Shinigami no Naruto: Power of the Soul
by Rahlian
Summary: Part One: An eighteen-year-old Anko adopts a newly orphaned Naruto. Now, see what he will become, drawing on the power of his soul to overcome obstacles from all sides. NarutoxBleach, NarutoxTenten, NarutoxHinata, NaruxTen, NaruxHina Complete
1. A Very Different Life

**Shinigami No Naruto **

**Part One: Power of the Soul**

**Chapter One: A Very Different Life**

Scarcely sixteen hours had passed and already the council had forgotten the Yondaime. Little more than half a day had passed since the death of Konoha's greatest leader perished, vanquishing the Kyuubi no Kitsune and the village leaders were clamoring for the son of their savior's death.

Uchiha Fugaku had leaped out of his seat to the right of the Hokage's chair, pressing fists to the polished oak. "Sandaime-sama, we must end the demon before it has a chance to recuperate. It is weak now, and we would be doing a great wrong to those it has already slain to let it live any longer. I put forth a motion for the execution of the Jinchuuriki child on the grounds that he is a mortal threat to the existence of Konohagakure no Sato."

Sarutobi Hiruzen, recently reinstated Sandaime Hokage, cradled said "demon" in his arms, his politicians mask concealing the rage he felt toward the First Clansman of the First Clan, the Uchihas. "Fugaku-san, what I hold in my arms here is not the Kyuubi itself, but the prison of the Kyuubi. I would ask you to remember that there is a distinction between the prisoner and the warden manning the walls. I assure you; Naruto-kun is not in any way possessed or influenced by the demon."

"It matters not, whether he is the prisoner or the prison. He should still be put to death. If you are correct, and he is not possessed now, he could be in the future. That child is the greatest threat to this village since the Shodai defeated Madara at the Valley of the End. If the seal were to weaken, or even break, we would be asking to be annihilated. We cannot count on a miracle happening again to save us."

"So basically what you are saying is that you do not trust Yondaime-kun. He was a seal master, and assured me moments before his death that the seal is his greatest achievement."

"I do not dispute that Yondaime-sama was a seal master. However, he was human, and as such, was not infallible. I do not wish to risk the fate of the entire village on the skills of one man, however skilled he may be."

Sarutobi turned away from the Uchiha leader to the rest of the council, "Who else among you believes the same?"

One by one, the council members voiced their opinions. "I, Hyuuga Hiashi, First Clansman of Clan Hyuuga second Clan Uchiha's motion."

"I, Aburame Shibi, First Clansman of Clan Aburame vote against the Uchiha's motion."

"I, Nara Shikaku, First Clansman of Clan Nara vote against the Uchiha's motion."

"I, Yamanaka Inoichi, First Clansman of Clan Yamanaka vote in favor of the Uchiha's motion."

"I, Yakushi Sano, First Clansman of Clan Yakushi vote in favor of the Uchiha's motion."

"I, Akamichi Chouza, First Clansman of Clan Akamichi vote in favor of the Uchiha's motion."

"I, Inuzuka Tsume, First Clansman of Clan Inuzuka vote in favor of the Uchiha's motion."

"I, Kedouin Agari, First Clansman of Clan Kedouin vote in favor of the Uchiha's motion."

"I, Akiudo Jin, First Guildsman of the Merchants Alliance, vote in favor of the Uchiha's motion."

"I, Bunmin Hakuchi, First Councilman of the Villager Council, vote in favor of the Uchiha's motion."

"I see then," Sarutobi said coldly. "It is well that this boy's fate is not up to you then. As the sitting Hokage, I exercise my right to name this child as a ward of the Hokage. Furthermore, I hereby classify the sealing of the Kitsune no Youko as an S-class secret, with the death penalty to anyone who reveals it to anyone who does not have prior knowledge of it, excepting the child himself and the sitting Hokage. Order in Council, et cetera, et cetera."

"Your word is law, Hokage-sama," Uchiha Fugaku bowed formally to him and excused himself, with seven council members following him.

Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed heavily, sinking into the plush chair behind him. "Thank you for your support," he said, nodding to the two councilmen that remained.

"As an Aburame, I know that it is not what is inside one that makes a person. I assume that Shikaku-san feels the same."

"I voted against the Uchiha mostly because it would have been far too troublesome to deal with my wife otherwise."

"You never change Shikaku-kun. Anyways, I need to find someone willing to take care of Naruto here. I do not dare to put him in the orphanage, or adopt him myself. That might give Danzo's faction enough support to unseat me as Hokage. And I know that neither of your clans are politically strong enough to protect him. I don't know any civilian clan well enough to be sure that they won't turn around and cut his throat the moment he is out of sight. I need someone loyal enough to raise him properly, and apolitical enough to be able to withstand the pressure that will be given."

"Then let me have him." The three men turned to face the intruder to see a purple haired woman in a ninja mesh shirt, almost indecently short skirt and long tan trench coat.

"Anko-san, while it is a pleasure to see you, why would you want the burden of raising Naruto?"

"Because he is like me. I was listening to the entire meeting, and see that practically anywhere he is placed he is almost certainly going to be abused. I can raise him to be a competent shinobi when he comes of age. Also, the entire civilian population is terrified of me, almost without exception, and most of the shinobi population is wary of me, so he will be protected from them that way. My place is big enough to house another person, and my salary as a tokubetsu jounin is sufficient to support us both."

Sarutobi was impressed by the eighteen-year-olds speech. It was the most serious he had seen her since she was abandoned by his student five years ago. Leaning back, he considered her offer as the two clan heads left the room. She was certainly one of the strongest tokubetsu jounin in the village. With her temper, he almost pitied anyone who would mess with her or Naruto, assuming that she didn't kill the boy out of temper. He had two sons himself, and knew quite well the stress that an infant could generate. Plus, raising the boy would do her as much good for herself as Naruto.

"Alright. I appoint you the boy's legal guardian. Since Minato's relationship with Kushina was kept a secret, let him keep his mother's surname until he is old enough to learn of his lineage." Hiruzen handed the newly christened Uzumaki Naruto to Anko.

"Thank you Hokage-sama. I will do my best."

The Sandaime let a wry smile twist his lips. "I'm sure you will, Anko-san." With that she turned on her heel and left the council room with her newborn charge.

**Two weeks later**

Anko was at the market shopping for baby formula. The past two weeks had been a living hell for the newly nineteen year old kunoichi. She had expected to be woken up in the middle of the night to tend to the infant Naruto's needs, but this went beyond the pale. She had not slept for more than five hours at a time since she had brought Naruto home. Normally, she didn't sleep more than five hours a night anyways, but before she would at least lie on her bed and gain some rest that way. Oftentimes, when Naruto awoke it took about two hours to get him to go back to sleep. She spent the entire time on her feet humming and rocking the boy because he didn't like her to sit down. She swore moment her bottom touched the chair; the damnable brat started howling as if she were taking away his favorite fox plushy. So she would pace the house, gently patting his back, listening to him gurgle in pleasure softly.

Then there were the looks. Normally, she wouldn't be bothered by them, after all, she had been on the receiving end of them for the past five years, ever since her sensei turned traitor. It was the glares sent to her charge that got her riled up. She could understand why they hated her, to a very limited extent, but to hate an infant whose only crime was to be the son of the Hokage (although they didn't know that) was inexcusable. She ignored the whispers of the snake bitch and the demon brat. More often than not, she would place a Henge on herself before going shopping for Naruto. The shopkeeper usually gave her odd looks, because she would buy thirty or forty packages of powdered formula at a time, and had been asked more than once how many children she had, to be shocked to find out that she only had one.

Anko visited the Hokage quite regularly, both to keep the old man updated on how Naruto was doing and to ask for advice. She had never been a mother before, or even been in a serious relationship for that matter, and sought the elderly Hokage for instruction on how to care for a newborn boy. She had considered more than once giving the child back to the Hokage, explaining that she just couldn't handle him, but one look at his grinning, cherubic face and she would change her mind.

Thanking the cashier, Anko picked up her bags in one arm, the other holding Naruto and headed for her favorite dango joint. After last night when he absolutely refused to keep any of the formula she fed him down, she needed a stiff drink.

**Four years after the Day of the Kyuubi**

"Time to get up brat." It was five o'clock in the morning, and Anko was in Naruto's room, flipping him out of bed.

Naruto squawked noisily, flailing around, tangling himself in his blankets as he landed on the carpeted floor with a thump. Naruto sat up and blearily looked at the clock on his nightstand, reading the glowing red numbers. "It's only five o'clock Mom. Why do I have to get up so early?"

"Because today is the first day of your ninja training." That immediately perked the four-year-old blond up.

"Really? I'm gonna start learning to be a ninja like you Mom?"

"Not if you don't get ready soon." Like that Naruto was out of the room in a flash, stripping out of his nightclothes with the lack of modesty that only the very young could achieve. Smirking, she followed her son into the bathroom, picking up the discarded sleepwear and dumping it in the hamper as she went along.

Twenty minutes later Anko and Naruto were outside in the darkened backyard, Naruto shivering in the early morning chill. He was wearing a bright orange tee shirt that she had sewn the Uzumaki swirl crest on and a pair of blue shorts. "All right. We are going to begin your physical conditioning today. If ya want to be a ninja, ya gotta be in shape. When you are good enough, we will be adding weights to your work out. But that's not for a while yet." Looking around the yard she thought for a minute.

"I want you to do twenty laps around the fence to warm up. After that, you will do fifty push ups, and fifty crunches." Naruto hesitated slightly at that, but took off when he saw his mother's face start to harden. The first lesson that he had ever learned was to never question his mother. He already had quite a bit of impromptu evasion training, as Anko was extremely handy with what Naruto termed the 'sharp and shinies.' Finishing he started his push ups, collapsing into a quivering heap after the requisite fifty. Anko was on him immediately.

"Hey, break time ain't yet, ya still got another fifty crunches to do!" Rolling over onto his back, she slowly and strenuously made his way through the last fifty exercises. When he finished, he looked around for Anko, noticing that the yard was deserted. Anko's voice carried through an open window.

"C'mon brat, breakfast is ready." Naruto brightened immediately at the mention of food. Pushing himself up on quivering legs he stumbled through the door and collapsed into his chair. Naruto looked at Anko in surprise when she set his meal down in front of him.

"I thought you said I wasn't supposed to have ramen for breakfast Mom?"

"Well, today is your first day of shinobi training, so I figured that I would cut you some slack today."

Naruto eyed her suspiciously. "This isn't another one of your tests is it?" Naruto had learned quickly not to take for granted anything that Anko gave him, seemingly out of the goodness of her heart. Mostly because she didn't seem to have one.

"Nah," she said, ruffling his already mussed-up hair, smiling gently. "Just enjoy your ramen. But this is a one time deal," she said seriously. "You know what will happen if you try to break into the ramen cupboard." Naruto shuddered. Anko had booby trapped the ramen cupboard with a few small exploding tags last month, when he had tried to sneak some ramen in between meals. They weren't enough to actually harm him, but he did get slightly singed.

"Hai, Mom." Turning to his cooling noodles, he broke his chopsticks, gave thanks for his meal, and dug in. Anko placed a second bowl in front of him when he finished the first, and a third, and a fourth, before he sat back with a contented sigh. She let him sit there digesting for a couple minutes before she herded him back outside.

Next were fifty pull ups, using the gutter lining the house as an improvised pull up bar. Anko had to lift him up of course, and for a while he was too nervous to listen to her. She got his attention by throwing three kunai at him, deliberately missing, telling him next time she wouldn't if he did not get to work. He did fifty of those, and then dropped to the ground to catch his breath. Anko was on him in a second. "Whatcha doing, maggot? I didn't say you could rest yet. Back up on your feet." She grabbed the waist of his pants and hauled him to his feet. "See that tree there," she asked pointing to a sixty foot magnolia. "I want you to see how high you can get as fast as you can." Naruto flashed a grin and dashed to the tree. He bounced up and caught the lowest branch. Wrapping his arms around it, he swung one of his legs over and righted himself. Balancing himself with one hand on the trunk he shimmied up to the next branch, repeating the process until ten minutes later, he stood with both arms wrapped tightly around the trunk, laughing exuberantly as the top of the tree swayed under his weight.

"Alright, enough fun Naruto-chan, get your ass back down here on the double!"

"Okay Mom." He unwrapped one arm from the trunk and waved wildly, sending the tree into greater arcs, causing him to wrap his arm back around the tree, laughing again. He monkeyed his way down the tree again, splaying his arms wide with a stupid grin on his face. "How'd I do?"

"Not bad brat. You could do better, but that is why I am here to teach you. What we are going to be working on is your physical stamina and agility and basic taijutsu." Saying that she settled into a wide stance. "Come and attack me." Naruto grinned mischievously. It was going to be a long day.

**Eleven hours later**

Mitarashi Anko was walking down the street with her son in tow. She had spent the entire day gauging his talents. So far, he seemed to be leaning to taijutsu and probably ninjutsu, given the stamina he had displayed today. On the flip side of that, he was probably going to suck at genjutsu, showing very little of the mental agility to create genjutsu. Then again, he was only four, so who knew.

"Hey, Mom, where are we going?" Several of the villagers scowled in her direction when they heard his voice. She had taught the villagers a long time ago not to mess with her or Naruto, but that didn't stop them from giving the pair the evil eye whenever they had the chance.

"We are going to dinner Naruto-chan."

"Where are we having dinner? I'm hungry."

Anko let a small smile curve her lips. "Yes I would imagine you would be Naruto. Come here," she said as they reached the corner." Naruto approached her and let her pick him up, covering his eyes.

"Mom, I can't see now."

"Well that is the idea. It's a surprise."

She imagined his eyes widening in comprehension. She continued to walk for another two minutes before she put the young boy down on a padded stool. Naruto burst into a bright laugh when he saw where they were. "Yatta! Ichiraku's is the best! Hello Teuchi-ossan!"

The middle aged man smiled as he saw his favorite customer. "And how are you doing today Naruto?"

"Mom started to teach me to be a ninja today! I'm gonna be the greatest ninja ever when I grow up!"

Teuchi grinned amusedly and looked over to his adopted mother. She was slumped over onto the counter, obviously exhausted. "And how are you doing today, Anko-san?"

"I'm fine, just tired." Gesturing to her son she continued. "Let him have as much ramen as he wants. He deserves it."

"Okay then. What kind of ramen do you want Naruto-kun?"

Naruto thought about that for a minute, resting his chin in his palm in an almost comical fashion. "Give me three bowls of beef ramen and two bowls of miso ramen."

"And you?" The cook asked turning back to Anko. "One bowl of miso."

"Coming right up." Teuchi turned to the rear of the bar. "Ayame-chan, get five bowls of ramen ready for Naruto."

Ayame appeared three minutes later, with a bowl of beef ramen for Naruto and miso for Anko. Anko thanked the girl and slowly set to consuming the noodles and broth. She had never expected Naruto to do as well as he had. They boy seemed to have a nigh infinite well of energy to draw on. When he was finished with one of her tasks, he would sit down and rest for a minute, but be back up and bouncing a minute later. She would never admit this to another living soul but she was extremely proud of her son. Teuchi came back to give Naruto his final bowl of beef ramen when Anko looked up and asked him a question. "Hey Teuchi-san, how was it raising Ayame-chan?"

Teuchi stopped and looked at Anko in shock. Mitarashi _Anko _was asking him for parenting advice? "Uh, well she was a real handful at Naruto's age. Like most children I would imagine."

"Heh, that's slightly comforting to know. I would never think the day would come when I got run into the ground by a four year old."

"Children are surprising."

"Tell me about it." That was when Naruto's bowl clattered emptily into the stack of other bowls.

"Hey Teuchi-ossan, is my miso ramen ready yet?"

"I'll go check Naruto-kun. Be right back." Anko let her head slump back down into her arms as the elder parent left to go get Naruto the rest of his ramen.

"Hey Mom, does this use up one of my ramen coupons?"

"Nah kid. This is a special treat." The ramen coupons were an idea Anko had come up with a while ago to try to limit the boy's nearly endless ramen intake. Well that and trying to get him to stop asking her if they could eat at Ichiraku's every single night. Whenever he was especially good, she rewarded him with a ramen coupon. He had to use a coupon whenever he wanted to go out to Ichiraku's to eat. She usually worked it so that he was only able to visit the stand about three times a week. He made the limited visits up for the volume of ramen he consumed though. He never consumed less than four bowls, more often eating six or eight. She had explained to him that a shinobi needed to have variety of food other than the various flavors of ramen found at his favorite eating joint.

After he finished his last two bowls of ramen, she picked her now-sleepy son and carried him back to her house. By the time she was unlocking the front door and disabling the traps, Naruto was sleeping soundly, drooling slightly on her shoulder. Years ago, she would have smashed the kid through a wall or three for doing that, but the past four years had smoothed some of her rough edges away. Gently she placed Naruto in his bed and tucked the blankets gently around him. She stayed there for a few minutes, sitting on the edge of his bed and softly stroking his hair.

After a few minutes of that, she got up, silently closed the door and went into the kitchen. She retrieved a bottle of sake and a saucer and retreated into the family room. She poured herself some of the rice liquor and tossed it down, sighing as she felt the alcohol make its way through her system. Tomorrow she would go and see the Hokage to tell him that she was starting to train him, as well as update the old man on his general status.

She picked up one of the scrolls that lined the shelf behind the couch. It was a scroll of seals. She figured that since her son was the Kyuubi container, she should try to learn about the seal that his biological father had placed on him. Of course, there wasn't going to be anything on the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, as it was invented by the Yondaime and it was a kinjutsu, but there was some on the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style, which was used in conjunction with the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to seal the Kyuubi in Naruto. She wasn't planning on becoming a seal master, but she did want to know how the seal worked, and how to strengthen or weaken it, should the need arise. Eventually she wanted Naruto to be able to use the Kyuubi's chakra as well as his own in battle, and to do that here she was.

The scroll was astoundingly dry. Anko marveled that the author had managed to take a subject as interesting as sealing jutsu and make it sound boring. Three hours later, she rolled the scroll up and put it back in its slot, heading to bed.

The next morning Anko woke Naruto up at the same time as the previous day, flipping him out of bed. She started him up with his morning calisthenics. Going back inside, she hefted a training dummy outside, hoisting it on one of the branches of the magnolia that he had scaled yesterday. When he had completed the morning workout she had assigned him, she brought him over to the dummy. She versed him in the basics of taijutsu for three hours until Naruto's stomach rumbled loudly. Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Sorry Mom."

"Well, we have been out here for a couple hours so why don't we break for breakfast?"

"Okay!" Naruto raced inside, rifling through the bottom cupboard, deciding which cereal he wanted to have this morning. Eventually he decided on one, and poured himself four bowls of cereal. Anko paused in amusement as she fished a box of dango from another cupboard. She figured that it was some effect of the Kyuubi sealed inside him that he ate so much. When she first adopted him, she had been slightly goggle eyed at the grocery bill for the first few weeks. She learned from carefully spied upon conversations with other mothers that Naruto's eating habits were not the norm for anyone outside the Akamichi clan.

When Naruto finished his meal, she ushered him upstairs to get a shower and change. "After all, do you want to stink when we go visit the Hokage? The Hokage's assistants probably won't let you see him if they have to pinch their noses when they see you." Naruto got undressed, put his sweaty clothes in the hamper and entered the bathroom. Anko followed him, and washed his hair under the spray of the shower head. She noted that his hair was getting kinda long. She should probably give him a cut in the next week or so. When he was satisfactorily clean, she turned off the spray and wrapped a towel around his head, rubbing vigorously despite his protests. Dried off, he dressed in another orange shirt and green pants. The pair walked to the front door, and Anko locked it behind them. She knelt down in front of the boy, holding her arms behind her. She could practically hear Naruto smiling as he climbed onto her back. Waiting a moment for him to latch on, she leaped to the rooftops, the wind whistling by nearly drowning Naruto's wild giggles out. When she landed in front of the Hokage Tower, Naruto was gasping, adrenaline pumping through his system.

"When can I do that Mom?"

"In another couple years Naruto-kun. Right now your legs aren't strong enough to jump from roof to roof. But that is why you are training every morning now, so that you can become strong enough to do that one day." Taking his small hand in hers, she led the way to the top of the tower where the Hokage's office was situated. Greeting the receptionist, Anko and Naruto entered the old office. Sarutobi looked up from a stack of paperwork to see who had entered. The Sandaime leaned back and smiled. A visit from Anko and Naruto was always a pleasant distraction from the endless mountain of paperwork that plagued him.

"Well, what do I owe this pleasure Anko-san?"

"Well, I just wanted to let you know how Naruto has been doing. I have also started his ninja training. He shows a remarkable aptitude for taijutsu and probably ninjutsu."

"That is good to know. I will want weekly reports on his progress, you know."

"Hai Hokage-sama." Beside Anko, Naruto was fidgeting, wanting to greet the old man, but knowing if he interrupted his mother she would be angry at him. When they both fell silent, Naruto walked up to the desk and pulled himself up so that he could see over the edge.

"Hello, Grandpa Sarutobi."

Both Anko and the Sandaime sweat dropped. Anko cursed herself. He had overheard her cussing the old man out once a while ago, and had taken a liking to the name. Hiruzen sweat dropped for an entirely different reason. He was one of the top five ninja in the world, and here was this munchkin calling him old man. Naruto was a lot like his mother, in more ways than one. Hiruzen leaned forward, placing his arms on his desk. "And how are you this fine morning, young man?"

"I'm good. I had to get up early this morning to do my ninja training. It was still dark when we went outside."

"I see," the old man responded

"I'm gonna train real hard too."

"Why is that Naruto-kun?"

"'Cuz I'm gonna be Hokage one day."

"Really? Then you will have to train as hard as you can. I can only pick the strongest ninja in the village to be the next Hokage."

"Okay Gramps. Just be ready to hand over that hat when I do."

The Sandaime smiled. "I look forward to the day that that happens Naruto. Get strong fast okay?"

"Hell yeah!"

**Six years after the Day of the Kyuubi**

Naruto was having a pleasant dream of ramen when a piercing yell interrupted his sleep. "Goooooooooood moooooooooooooooooooning Naaaaaaaaaarutooooooooooo-chaaaaaaaaan!" That was all the warning he received before a crushing weight drove into his midriff, divesting him of breath and throwing him out of his bed. A minute later when he had gotten his wind back and no longer felt as if he wasn't going to puke up a lung or something, he got up on his knees and glared at his mother. "Damn you Mom, can't you ever be a normal parent?"

"What, and miss that priceless expression on you face? Hell no. 'Sides, normal is boring."

"Maybe if you are a psychopath," Naruto muttered, unfortunately not quietly enough. He fled his room to the back yard, where Anko took out her irritation at him by doubling his morning calisthenics. Three hours later, an absolutely exhausted Naruto dragged himself into the kitchen. He poured himself half a dozen bowls of cereal, ignoring the smirk that Anko sent his way as she started on a carton of dango. When he finished, he sighed and headed out back to the backyard.

"Hold it there short stuff. Where do you think you are going?"

Naruto turned to face her, confusion painted across his six-year-old features. "Aren't we going to train?"

"Not this morning. We are going to go shopping."

"Shopping for what?"

"Well, clothes for one and ninja tools for another."

Naruto's face lit up the instant ninja tools were mentioned, his mind immediately leaping to kunai. His mother never let him play with any of her kunai unfortunately; saying that he did not know how to handle them properly, to which he would retort that he would if she taught him. Anko would then smile and set him to his calisthenics. "Really Mom? I get my own kunai?"

"Well, duh. You are starting the Shinobi Academy tomorrow and you would look like an idiot if you didn't have your stuff."

"Can we go to the weapon's shop first?"

"No."

"Why not?" he asked pouting.

"Because I said so brat."

Scowling and crossing his arms across his chest he sulked. "Well, go get a shower and change into some clean clothes. You can't go out smelling like an armpit. The sooner you stop stinking up the house the sooner we can go."

Naruto was up and out of the room in a flash, forgetting to take care of his breakfast. Anko sighed and gathered the bowls up, closing the box and putting it back where it belonged. Five minutes later, Naruto was back downstairs, his hair still dripping. Extending an arm, she motioned for him to come closer.

"C'mere, lemme smell ya."

He did, letting his mother sniff his hair, armpits and feet, giggling all the while. "Come on Mom. I took a shower. I don't stink like an armpit anymore."

Anko took her time examining him, turning it into a game of sorts. "Well I suppose you don't at that. Now you only smell like a skunk."

"Mooooom," Naruto said, drawing her name out.

"Alright, alright brat. We can go now." Anko locked the door behind them and led her son to a shop in the shinobi district whose owner she was on friendly terms with. "Hey Ikitaro-san."

"Hey there Anko-san. What are you doing here? You don't need more ninja mesh do you?"

"Nah. This trip is for my brat here," she said, ruffling Naruto's hair. "He starts the Academy tomorrow, so he needs some new clothes."

"I see. Well, you know where I will be if you need me."

Anko waved Ikitaro away and followed her son as he wandered around the store, looking at all the various articles of clothing. Spying something that he liked he rushed off down one of the aisles. When Anko had caught up with him, he was holding up a miniature orange jumpsuit.

"Hey Mom, can I get this?"

"Hmm... Let me think," she said, putting her chin in one hand. "HELL NO!" she shouted.

Naruto looked crestfallen. "Why not?"

"One, because that much orange will cause brain damage. Two, how the hell are you supposed to hide when you look like something that escaped from the circus?"

"Well, I could use a Transformation Technique when I had to," Naruto said.

Anko just sighed. "Just put that back brat. I guess I gotta choose your clothes for you since you seem to be color blind."

Twenty minutes later Anko and son stood in front of the cash register with a stack of clothes. In the end, Anko had allowed Naruto to help choose his clothes. He now had half a dozen shirts in dark colors, ranging from blue and black. He also had several pair of cargo pants in black, red and one in white. Anko also grabbed some black cloths, for Naruto to tie over his hair and hide the bright pigment. At Naruto's insistence, she had included an altered tan trench coat. Anko thought it was the most ridiculous looking thing in the entire store, after those jumpsuits, and she let him know it.

"But you wear a trench coat Mom."

"I am also twice your height, so it doesn't look stupid on me." Nonetheless, she bought it.

Next they visited the weapons shop. The Urahara Shop was a small, unassuming building deep in the Black Metal Alley, the blacksmiths and weapon makers' district in Konoha. There were two kids out front sweeping. Well, one was sweeping and the other was slacking off. The one slacking had red hair and an annoyed expression, while his compatriot was female and had her dark hair in two ponytails at opposite sides of her head.

The dark haired girl bowed and greeted them in a soft tone, while the red headed boy took an aggressive stance toward Naruto.

"Hey Anko-san, who's the brat?"

"What brat? The only brat I see here is you, Jinta-_chan,_" emphasizing the diminutive suffix. "If by brat however, you mean my son here, his name is Naruto." Jinta scowled at the kunoichi.

"Well, I don't think there is anything in layaway for you here, so you may as well go away," Jinta said in a dismissive tone, making a shooing gesture.

"Hey," Naruto said, coming out from behind Anko's legs. "The only person who is allowed to talk to my mom like that is me!"

Jinta turned back and leered at the shorter blond. "Whatcha gonna do about it runt?"

"Well I don't think I am going to do anything, but that guy probably will," Naruto replied, pointing to the towering figure with square glasses and a handlebar mustache behind Jinta. Jinta froze, slowly turning to face the smoldering figure of Tsukabishi Tessai. Tessai bent down and grabbed Jinta by the nape of his neck, hauling him up the thirty or so feet it took for the man to straighten, lecturing the sulking Jinta about how customers were to be treated. Anko smirked and gave Naruto a pat on the head, smiling at him when he looked up at her. Tessai ushered the pair into the store proper as he set Jinta and Ururu back to chores. Urahara Kisuke wandered up to the front of the store.

"Well hello Anko-san. It's been a while."

"Yeah it has. I haven't had many missions recently. Mostly because of the brat here," she said gesturing to Naruto. "We're here to get my son supplies for the Academy. He starts it tomorrow."

"Well then. Let's get started, shall we Naruto-kun?"

Naruto nodded vigorously. Twenty minutes later, Naruto was staring at the pile of shaped and sharpened steel in front of him. There were twenty kunai and forty shuriken in two weapon pouches. There was a roll of ninja wire, and a shirt of ninja mesh, basically a finely crafted shirt of chain mail. At a distance it looked just like fish netting, but upon closer inspection one discovered that it was not woven of cloth but steel. Also, there were four steel bracelets with four iron nuggets inset in them, each one inscribed with the number ten. Anko wouldn't tell him what the bracelets were for, saying that he would find out at home during training. Finally, Anko had purchased a pair of bracers and greaves. The bracers and greaves were made of thin steel made more durable than normal by a special process that infused chakra into the material. The armor was padded with leather on the underside to protect against chafing. The bracers were hexagonal, the circle of steel shaped into six planes. The greaves were fashioned in a similar manner, being about twice as thick as the bracers. As Naruto followed Anko home he was on cloud nine. He had his ninja tools, weapon pouches weighing his pants down, the ninja mesh shirt cold against his skin, bracers strapped on under his sleeves and greaves over his pants from knee to ankle, leaving about three inches of pants to cover his feet and the odd bracelets in a bag in his hand. He could hardly stop himself from racing on ahead, eager to get home and try out his new equipment.

When the pair reached the house Naruto was quivering with restrained energy. Anko sighed. The way he was now, he would be up all night most likely unless she really tired him out. She forced him to sit down and eat some lunch before allowing him to escape to the back yard.

"Alright Naruto. I bet you want to try out your new kunai and shuriken."

Naruto nodded madly. "Well that sucks, 'cuz we ain't working with weapons today. Instead, I will show you what these are for," Anko announced, holding the bracelets up. "These are chakra weight bracelets. Basically, what these things will do is improve your physical strength and overall stamina. You are going to be wearing these 24/7 from now on, when you are training, eating sleeping, even at school. However, you are not to tell anyone that you are wearing these."

"Why not Mom?"

"Well, would you tell an enemy all the ninjutsu you were going to use in a battle? No? Well, this is basically the same thing. While they are your classmates, and one day fellow shinobi, that doesn't mean that you should let them know everything about you. In fact, that brings me to my second thing. You know that you enter the Academy tomorrow. As such, I am going to give you your first mission. You are not to tell anybody what I am about to tell you, okay?" She waited for Naruto's solemn nod before continuing. "What is a ninja's greatest asset?"

"His mind," Naruto answered without pause.

"And what is his greatest tool?"

"Deception," he said without missing a beat.

"So what you are going to do is practice using those two things for the next six years. Your teachers will tell you that you should do your best, but you aren't going to do that. In fact, you are going to do the opposite. You are going to be the dead last of your class. You are going to suck at taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu. Your weapon skills are going to be horrible. Your theoretical knowledge is going to be nonexistent. You are going to do as poorly as possible while not flunking out, okay?"

"Why Mom? If I am better than the other kids, why shouldn't I show it?"

"Because if you do horribly in school, everyone you fight is going to underestimate you when you fight them. Because they underestimate you, it will be easier to beat them later."

Naruto had a contemplative expression on his face, as if he were working through the logic of what she had said. "Okay, I think I can do that Mom."

"That's a good kid," she said ruffling his hair. Now, let's put your weights on."

The next day Anko was crouched in a tree outside Naruto's classroom, a ball next to her. Inside, Umino Iruka was addressing the class. "Alright, when I call your name raise your hand to let me know that you are here. Aburame Shino." A boy in a grey coat and shades raised his hand. "Akamichi Choji." An extremely fat boy who was working on a bag of chips raised his hand. So it went on, until Iruka reached the last name on the list. Uzumaki Naruto." No one raised their hand. "Uzumaki Naruto, are you here?" Iruka raised his voice, examining the handful of students who had their faces down.

Outside, Anko smirked. "Get ready. It's your turn." Hefting the brown ball next to her, she chucked through the window, causing its occupants to flinch, most throwing up an arm to shield them from the shards of glass. The ball bounced twice before coming to a stop in front of the teacher's desk. A muffled explosion was heard a moment later, and the ball started to leak smoke. Completely bewildered as to what the hell the thing was, Iruka jabbed the thing, causing the ball to pop open, revealing a very bedraggled boy inside. Hacking and coughing, with smoke still rising, the boy got to his feet. Quickly turning around, he grabbed a cloth and threw one end up, causing the kunai attached to stick into the ceiling. Turning around to the students, Naruto struck a pose.

"Alright maggots," using the term his mother had used occasionally when training, "Uzumaki Naruto-sama, future Hokage, has arrived!" repeating the phrase that had been painted onto the cloth behind him. His introduction was met with complete silence, the entire class sweat dropping as one, everyone thinking the same thing. _'He's insane...' _

In the tree branch, Anko noted how he had trouble getting out of the ball. She filed that away for future reference.

Iruka face palmed. _'This is definitely Mitarashi Anko's kid. God help us all.' _Two minutes later, Naruto climbed the risers intending to sit in the back with his only two friends, Nara Shikamaru and Aburame Shino, dragging the remains of the ball and banner behind him. The Nara and the Aburame clans were the only families that did not call him and his mother names, nor try to mess with them on Naruto's birthday. In fact on several occasions, he had had his party at one or the other's places. Finding a seat, he sighed. Shikamaru looked at him. "That was some introduction there Naruto-kun."

"I agree. I do not anticipate anyone forgetting your name in the foreseeable future," Shino agreed.

"Yeah, well, it would have worked better if the ball had exploded like it was supposed to. I guess I didn't put enough black powder in."

"That would be the logical assumption," Shino replied pushing his shades up his nose, a faint buzzing emanating from him. "Your introduction might have had a better chance of success had you tested it out earlier."

"Yeah well, it was kind of a last minute thing." Naruto turned to look the other way when he heard a small cough.

"Um... Hello. My name is Hyuuga Hinata." The smoke stained boy turned to see who had addressed him. She was about his age, with pale grey eyes, and short black hair.

"Hey I know you. You were the girl that was almost kidnapped a couple of years ago."

"Yes, that was me," she murmured.

'That must have been pretty scary, getting taken like that."

"I was very afraid for a while, but I knew that my father would come and get me."

"It must be nice to have a dad. All I have is my mom. Ero-Kakashi drops by every once in a while, but he is too lazy to be a dad."

"Ero...Kakashi?" Hinata asked, barely able to repress a snort of laughter.

"Yeah, he is a friend of my mom's, but he is always reading these perverted books."

"I see..."

"Hey, do you want to be friends?"

She thought about his offer for a minute. She didn't have any friends herself, but she remembered the warning her father had given her about the boy and his mother once. He was so nice though. "Yeah. I would like that."


	2. A Not So Happy Birthday

**Chapter Two: A Not So Happy Birthday**

**October 10th, ten years after the day of the Kyuubi**

Naruto woke up gradually, the sun shining in through the window. That fact alone meant that either his mom was on a mission (and she wasn't) or it was his birthday (which it was.) He sighed. It wasn't that he hated his birthday; it was just that there really wasn't much to do. Anko never trained him on his birthday, and he wasn't allowed to leave the house without her. They would probably go over to either the Nara's or the Aburame's for a birthday lunch, hang out there for a couple of hours and then go home, where he would go to his room and play with his presents or read until bed. Rolling out of bed he took off his sleep clothes and left them on the floor, something he would never dare to do on a normal day, but there was very little that Anko would get on him for on October tenth, and he used that to his advantage.

Exiting the shower fifteen minutes later after a luxuriantly long soak, where he turned the water up to as hot as he could bear, he dried off and dressed in a loose blue shirt and white pants, bracers, greaves and weights a familiar drag on his limbs. Padding downstairs he found Anko sitting at the breakfast table with a scroll unrolled before her. That was something he had always wondered about. Whenever she had spare time, she would go to the family room and read a scroll from the shelving unit behind the couch. Whenever he asked her about what she was reading, she would always put him off by saying that he would learn what was on the scrolls when he was old enough.

Turning around she smiled at him, a real smile, not a mask smile, like the ones she used during training, or dealing with surly shop owners. "Happy birthday Naruto-kun."

"Thanks Mom. Where are we going for my party today? The Nara's or the Aburame's?"

"The Nara's offered to have us over this year."

Naruto smiled at the thought of spending the day at his lazy friend's house. The complex itself was actually pretty small for one of the shinobi clans, but the surrounding forest more than made up for it. "When are we going to go over?"

Anko looked at a clock. "In about an hour or so. The Shikaku said they would be ready by noon, so I figure we should give them an extra forty-five minutes." Naruto grinned again at that. Shikamaru definitely favored his father more than his mother. Knowing Shikaku and Shikamaru they would try to avoid helping preparing the house until Yoshino hunted them down and drafted them to help. So Naruto spent the next hour doing practically nothing. Anko read one of her scrolls, and Naruto went back to his room.

He got out his ninja tools and laid them out on his spread before him. Forty kunai, sixty shuriken, a roll of ninja wire, his bracers, greaves, and ninja mesh shirt. Drawing his weapon pouches to him he reached under his bed and fished out his maintenance kit. Scrupulously going over each kunai and shuriken, he tested each edge, sharpening where needed and oiling each one. After his throwing weapons were done, he inspected his bracers and greaves for signs of rust and damage. Noting one or two negligible nicks, he put those aside before picking up his ninja mesh. Inspecting the shirt for rings that were starting to wear, he was jolted from his reverie by his mother's voice.

"Hey brat, get down here. It's time to go. Wouldn't wanna be late to your own damn party would ya?"

"Alright Mom, be down in a minute." Abandoning his inspection, making a mental note to complete it later, he dressed, strapping his armor and tools on before flying down the stairs. His mother had told him that there was no such thing as being too prepared. It was not a question about whether or not one was being paranoid but if one was being paranoid enough. Noting her son was properly armed and armored, she told him to drop a transformation on himself. Dutifully going through the appropriate hand seals, they left the house a minute later.

Outside was organized chaos. There were banners everywhere of the Yondaime standing over a fox, music was blaring, people were shouting and laughing at the top of their lungs, spilling drinks over themselves and anyone immediately adjacent to them. Anko and Naruto ascended to the rooftops a moment later, avoiding the crush of humanity below them.

Naruto had once asked why they never joined in the celebration, and Anko had told him that he would not enjoy it. He saw plenty of children out there running around and having fun, but there was something in her eye and her voice that made him hold his tongue. It wasn't anger, or sadness precisely, but some amalgamation of anger not aimed at him, regret and sorrow. It was a look and tone that Naruto had never seen her use before, and never use since.

The pair arrived at the Nara complex ten minutes later. After Anko knocked on the door, they were let inside where Naruto was subjected to a barrage of "Happy Birthdays" and hugs and kisses and pinched cheeks by the female Nara's and Aburame's. It seemed that the Aburame reputation of stolid aloofness only applied in public, at least for the women. Shikamaru and Shino found him in short order, handing him their presents and enjoying the uncomfortable air surrounding Naruto. Naruto was no stranger to human contact, but he had comparatively little enough of it that when he was assaulted by a continuous stream of hugs, shaken hands and squeezed shoulders it was enough to unsettle him slightly.

Soon enough everyone was ushered into the back yard where several trestle tables had been set up to accommodate everyone, as there was no way that the dining room could hold the combined numbers of the Nara and Aburame clans combined. After blowing the candles out on a cake of truly epic proportions, it was sliced and passed around, along with a dozen flavors of ramen, courtesy of Ichiraku's, nimono, tempura and half a dozen other dishes.

After the meal, was the opening of presents. There wasn't a present from every single person there, but rather each individual family of each clan got something together for him. It was a tradition established on Naruto's second birthday, when Anko wasn't able to keep all the presents, and had been forced to sell a few off, much to her chagrin.

So now Naruto sat at the center most table and ripped the wrapping from boxes of varying shapes and sizes. The vast majority of the presents were ninja-related, like another set of maintenance supplies which Naruto was grateful for as he had been running low on machine oil. There was the obligatory set of engraved kunai, as well as collapsible target dummy. He also received a scroll of elemental ninjutsu, with a wind release and a fire release jutsu on it that Anko confiscated immediately, saying that he could have it back when he was ready to learn them. After all, a ten year old Naruto being able to shoot fire from his mouth was probably not a genius idea. Shikamaru predictably got him a cloud watching guide. However his favorite present was from Shino. He had purchased a book on ninja animals, ranging from summons like toads, snakes and foxes, to ninja companions like the dogs of the Inuzukas and the kikaichu of the Aburames.

When the sun started to sink towards the horizon, Anko and Naruto took their leave. The partying in the streets was still going strong, so they took to the roofs again. They arrived at the house without incident and carried all the presents in. After packing everything away, turned to his mother.

"Hey Mom, I think I am gonna go soak in the tub for a while. I'm kinda tired so I think that I just want to relax for a bit."

"Alright. Let me know when you are out then. I need to shower tonight also." Closing the door to his room, he turned on the faucet to the bathtub in his bathroom. Letting it run for a few minutes, he shut it off. Double checking himself to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything, he opened the window and leaped out into the evening. Arriving at the main party area he wandered about, keeping to the fringes, observing the celebration. There were hundreds of stalls set up, some for food, some for games and prizes, others for telling the future, the list went on and on. He went to one stall and bought himself a large cup of orange juice from a slightly inebriated stall worker. He downed the juice in a few minutes, and stepped into a nearby alley to relieve himself.

Before he was able to even unzip his pants, he noticed three figures stumbling towards him. He disregarded them, figuring that they were just some guys like him, looking for a place to relieve themselves. However, he knew something was wrong when his danger sense went off, something that all shinobi developed at some point in their lives.

Unfortunately, he wasn't quick enough to react, and was thinking _'oh crap,' _when a bottle smashed into the back of his head, shards of glass cutting his scalp and bashing his forehead into the brick wall. Stunned, Naruto collapsed to his knees, one hand pressing against the warm brick to try to steady his whirling head.

"Look what we found here," a coarse voice said.

"Looks like we found ourselves some demon garbage," replied another in a similar tone.

"I think the demon was attending the celebration," the first voice said again.

"And we certainly can't have the fucking monster showing its face today," inserted a third man.

"Well, why don't we fix the problem now?" the second voice said. Naruto realized that he was in danger, and started to push himself up off the ground to flee when one of his legs was yanked from under him, depositing him on his back. Before he could react, a booted foot slammed into his left ribs, hard. He started to roll to the left to shield he torso, but another foot buried itself in his gut, causing him to curl into a ball. A fist grabbed the back of his shirt and lifted him up. He raised his head just in time to see a fist heading his way before his vision exploded into stars. Distantly he felt his nose break. Fists continued to hit him, until he felt a something sharp and cold cut into his thigh. The sharp thing pulled out and cut into his other leg and his arms several times. After a bit, the pain started to blur, with each new pain quickly fading into the background of agony. Eventually, the darkness claimed him and he knew no more.

Something was wrong. Anko couldn't say exactly what, something just felt wrong. Marking her place on the seal scroll she was reading, she put it to the side and went to check on Naruto. Listening at the door to his room for a moment, she heard nothing. Of course, in and of itself the silence meant nothing. She knocked on the door, and said "Naruto, how are you doing? Are you out of the bath yet?" She waited another moment, but when no reply came she knocked again. "Naruto, did you hear me? Are you still in the bath?" Still nothing. Slightly agitated now she talked to the door a third time. "I'm coming in Naruto." Anko turned the knob and stepped into the room. Her heart stopped instantly. She could see from where she was that the tub was unoccupied from the open door, and the bed was empty. Then she noticed the open window, and her heart jumped into her mouth. She body flickered to her room, snatching up her kunai and shuriken pouches before returning to Naruto's room. She leaped out the window hoping against hope that Naruto just decided to sit on the roof outside. When he was not there, she started roof hopping looking for her missing son.

He had obviously sneaked out to see the festival and she prayed that he was still wandering through the crowds. However, she knew that her worst fears were probably about to come true as she scented blood, her nose enhanced by channeling chakra to it. She followed the smell three blocks where she found a group of half a dozen men huddled around something. One of the men shifted to the side a bit and she was able to make out a bit of yellow.

"Get the fuck away from my son!" she screamed, kunai in either fist. The men looked up to see what appeared to be a possessed woman flying out of the sky at them. They immediately scattered, but Anko loosed her two kunai at two random men, the sharp steel lodging in their thighs. She hurried over to the fallen men and severed their hamstrings, crippling them so that they would be unable to flee. Quickly memorizing the faces she practically fell onto Naruto in her haste.

Naruto was a mess. Half his hair was missing, and both eyes were swollen closed. His face was swollen to an almost comical degree, the skin a patchwork of purpling bruises and still bleeding cuts and scrapes, all of them mercifully shallow. There was a thick layer of blood covering his chin and pooling on his neck, probably from biting his tongue. His chest was obviously deformed, and she counted four broken ribs at first glance. Lifting his shirt, she saw that his chest was covered in blood, most of it seeming to have come from the two holes that his broken ribs had made where they were poking through his skin. She saw at least half a dozen cuts across his chest, and a frighteningly deep one across his stomach, as if someone had tried to eviscerate him. By the way he was breathing she knew that his broken ribs had put pressure on his lungs and heart, more likely puncturing one or both. His left arm was broken in three places, bending at angles and places where it obviously shouldn't. His right arm was marginally better, only having three long cuts down the upper arm, from shoulder to elbow. She didn't see any obvious breaks, but did notice what appeared to be several large cigarette burns on his hand.

She tore what remained of his pants off, distantly noting the slashes all across his legs, sizable patches of his skin missing, the muscle underneath looking more like ground beef than human flesh. Gently feeing the underside of his legs she noted in the same clinical way that his Achilles tendons had been severed as well as the hamstrings and calves, most likely so he could not flee.

Overall, there was more blood on him than skin, most of it coming from the lacerations on his scalp, the broken ribs, and the legs. Making a pair of shadow clones quickly she directed them to find something to serve as a stretcher. They vanished down the alley and returned a minute later, carrying what appeared to be a section of a Dumpster, judging from the large white "DU" painted on one side. Not caring how the clones had obtained the length of steel, she lifted her son onto the metal, jostling him as little as possible. Directing her clones to take the makeshift stretcher up, she ran beside them, heading for the Hokage Tower, praying to whatever deity that might be listening to save her son. As the conical structure came into view Anko started to pray that Sarutobi was in his office, and not down at the party, giving a speech or something. Throwing a kunai at one of the windows as she neared, she leaped through the shattered glass with her clones on her heels. The Sandaime Hokage was on his feet in a fighting stance ready to face whatever came in through the window.

Hiruzen froze when he saw three Ankos jump through the now-open window, one carrying a section of steel with a person on it.

"Go get a medic NOW! Naruto is hurt!"

Not saying a word after flicking his gaze to the stretcher and seeing the thick streams of blood dripping off, he slammed his hands together into the seal for the Body Flicker Technique. He materialized a half second later in the office of the head doctor, a man by the name of Yakushi Sano. The Hokage's hands crashed together again in the cross seal and there were six copies behind him. All six clones practically flew out the door.

"Uh, Hokage-sama, may I-"

"There is someone that needs urgent medical attention in my office NOW!"

Yakushi was stuck speechless. He had never heard the Hokage speak to him in such a manner, and found his hands performing the seal for the Body Flicker Technique of their own volition, teleporting to the Hokage's office. The Hokage materialized behind the doctor a quarter second later. The doctor approached the supine figure on the slab of steel in front of the desk. At first he did not recognize the person, but then he made out a whisker mark on a blood-caked cheek. The doctor's eyes narrowed and he turned to the Hokage, mouth open to speak. The Hokage preempted the man though saying "I am ordering you to treat Uzumaki Naruto right now. If you don't I will have you arrested and executed for treason tomorrow morning. The same applies if you don't put forth your fullest effort and he dies."

The Hokage swept his diamond-hard eyes across the six newly arrived doctors that his shadow clones had fetched.

"What are you waiting for? Get to it NOW!" That seemed to jerk the doctors from whatever state of mental paralysis that had come over them. Anko moved out of the way as the seven doctors formed a ring around the unconscious boy, green glowing hands moving over his body.

"Anko," Sarutobi said, putting a hand on a shoulder from behind.

Anko whirled on her heel and glared at him. "I'm gonna kill them. I'm gonna fucking kill those murderous bastards. I'm gonna rip their god damned hearts out and feed it back to them."

"Anko..."

"They fucking tried to murder my SON! They fucking tried to take the life of my son Sarutobi. I swear to every deity known and unknown to man that they are going to fucking pay, and pay by my hand."

"Anko..." The look in Anko's eyes was the wrath of some kind of demon. The killing intent that the woman was radiating was nearly almost suffocating, the look in her eyes well beyond rage. Sarutobi noted the doctors grabbing hold of the metal slab Naruto was laying on and teleport away.

"I know who did this too. I crippled two of them. They are lying in an alley fourteen blocks that way," Anko growled, pointing out the shattered window.

"I will have ANBU make the arrests Anko."

"I want to be at the interrogations."

"Only as an observer though." Sarutobi knew better than to refuse her outright. He figured that letting her watch Ibiki mindfuck the would-be murderers would do her some good.

"And I will be the one to execute them when they are convicted."

At this the Hokage finally shook his head. "That will be left to the proper person Anko, not you."

"Just try and stop me, old man," she snarled.

"Anko," the Sandaime said, steeling his voice. "You will do no such thing. If you do try to I will be forced to arrest you. Right now that is beyond the last thing that _your son _needs. You should go to the hospital and wait there. I will take care of the criminals."

"You fucking better. Because if you don't there isn't anyone or anything on this planet that will save them," she replied coldly. With that she teleported to the hospital, the rage lingering for a few seconds. A minute later, a possessed Anko pressed though the doors clearly marked "Employees Only" stalking down the hall to the ICU.

When a surprised nurse tried to tell her that she was not allowed in that area, Anko rounded on the poor woman, pressing her against the wall by her throat. "Try and stop me." Holding the woman there a second longer she released her and continued following the widely spaced blood spatters that decorated the floor. Finding the room, she stood at the door, looking in through the window. She couldn't see her son at all, the backs of the doctors blocking him. She could see half a dozen machines with all kinds of numbers and lines arrayed at one wall. Satisfied for the moment, she stepped back and sat down on the floor against the wall opposite the door. A few minutes later, several people gathered at one end of the hallway, clearly security types. After a minute of hushed conferencing, they all left no one willing to face an enraged Anko at the moment. Honestly, Anko would have tried to eviscerate anyone who tried to tell her to leave. Fortunately, the medical staff sensed the aura of death restrained by a thread hanging around Anko and left her alone.

Thirty minutes later, the Hokage came through the doors down the hall. Anko flicked her gaze at him before returning to her study of the swinging doors in front of her. "Naruto's assailants have been arrested. Ibiki is working on interrogating them as we speak." Her only response was to form the cross seal, and the shadow clone leaped out the nearest window, heading towards the shinobi prison where Ibiki operated out of.

"Have any of the doctors been out yet?" Anko silent shook her head in a negative. Sighing, Hiruzen slowly bent down and sat next to her, saying nothing. So passed an hour in that manner. Anko was up on her feet the instant the door to the operating room twitched. The head doctor looked up from a clipboard in surprise at seeing Anko right outside the door rather than in the waiting room. After a moment he supposed that it really wasn't that shocking. He wouldn't have tried to remove the woman for anything in the world if he was security he supposed.

"How is he?" Anko asked the velvet softness that usually masked the steel in her voice completely abandoned.

"He is alive. Although, given the extent of his injuries, how long is a question. Frankly, the only way he is still alive is a combination of the Kyuubi's influence and divine intervention. He has a medium-severe concussion, as well as bruising in the brain, and two broken blood vessels. He had five fractures in his skull and over a dozen lacerations on his scalp. His nose, cheekbones and jaw were all broken, as well as missing fourteen teeth. His throat was partially crushed. Naruto had eight broken ribs, two of which punctured the skin; another two punctured his right lung, collapsing it, and the left atrium of his heart. There were twelve lacerations across his ribs and one across his stomach that punctured the abdominal wall. He had fourteen fractures in his spine. His left arm was broken three times, once in the humerus and twice in the radius and ulna. His right arm had three lacerations along the humerus from the shoulder to elbow, and multiple second degree burns to his hand. Both thighs were lacerated over a dozen times, and his hamstrings and Achilles tendons were severed. He lost two and a half liters of blood. I can't say how close he was to bleeding out. He has severe bruising to multiple major organs. The only good thing right now is that none of his wounds have turned septic. Right now, I put his survival at less than thirty percent. If he does survive, there is going to be scarring, whatever we do."

"I-is he conscious?" Anko's voice hitched from repressed emotion.

"Right now he is in a coma. As such, we have no clue when, or if he will awaken. If he does, he may be deaf, dumb, or crippled. His career as a ninja is most likely over."

"Can I see him?" The doctor looked to the Hokage before nodding. "Just don't touch him right now. His injuries have been repaired, but he is as fragile as glass at the moment. His regenerative capabilities have gone into overdrive and are still working."

Anko nodded and brushed past the doctor. Immediately, her eyes fell on her son. He was lying on a table with a dozen electrodes attached at various points on his body, two IVs in his arms, a catheter snaking out from under the sheets, and an oxygen line running into his nose. The room stank to high heaven, a combination of urine, feces, and blood. The sheets under Naruto had obviously been changed after the operation, as they only showed a small smattering of blood. The floor was also remarkably clean. She didn't recall moving to his side, just that one moment she was at the door and the next she was kneeling beside his bed, arms hovering above him torn between hugging him into oblivion and heeding the doctors instructions to not touch him. She wanted to stroke his short blond hair, but it had been shaved off, presumably so that the doctors could heal the cuts on his head. His chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, eyes closed, face relaxed. Anko let her head sink into her arms, and began crying for the first time in over twenty years. She ignored the nurses that were softly moving around the perimeter of the room, monitoring the monitors closely. Anko stayed there for the next four hours, until she collapsed into insensate blackness. She was moved into the adjoining room on the Hokage's instruction. Who knew what would happen if she were to find herself more than the twenty feet that separated them already?

The next morning Anko lurched into consciousness and fell off her bed, flailing while trying to disentangle herself from the sheets. Looking around hurriedly, she realized that she was in a hospital room. Jumping up she dashed out the door, looking both ways in the hallway outside, trying to get her bearings. Recognizing the hallways as the ICU, she went one door over and entered, releasing a breath when she saw her son still there. Stepping outside she shouted for a nurse. A minute later a woman in white appeared from around the corner and scurried towards the glowering tokubetsu jounin.

"How is my son doing?"

"One moment, let me check his chart." She walked to the foot of the bed and lifted a clipboard with some papers out of a pocket there. She was silent for several minutes as she flipped through several pages before turning to the distraught mother. "Well Mitarashi-san, your son is doing as well as can be expected given the trauma he has suffered, and quite a bit better than hoped it seems." She paused and turned back to the clipboard. "His bones seem to be setting nicely, and he is reacting well to the blood pills and antibiotics he was given to fight the multiple infections he got." She paused again. "He was brought in on a piece of a Dumpster?"

"Yeah, well, I didn't have many options at the time, seeing as he was fucking dying in front of me," Anko snarled.

"Err... I wasn't criticizing you, ma'am. I was just commenting on the method of delivery. It's not every day that you see something like that."

"Oh..." Anko replied, anger subsiding as quickly as it rose. "Err... sorry then, I guess."

"Not a problem ma'am. I can't understand where you are coming from here, so some anger is to be expected. You might want to see the psychiatrist on staff here at some point. I know it sounds cliché, but talking about it does help. Plus it's free."

"Maybe later. Keep talking," Anko said waving an arm in Naruto's direction.

"Oh, right. Um... Well, he is reacting well with the blood pills, like I said, and he is mending quite well physically, though that probably has more to do with the Kyuubi in him than anything we have done."

Anko gave the nurse a threatening glare, daring the young woman to insult Naruto in the least way. "Don't worry; I am not one who hates him for his burden. The way I see it, he is the best thing to happen to us ever. All this crap about him being the demon is ridiculous. Would a demon stand by and get itself beaten to death? I think not. But anyways, unfortunately, the lacerations aren't completely gone, although the muscle tissue is almost completely healed. With as much trauma he has been subjected to, and how much repair has already been done, we don't dare use any more chakra on him for a while, for fear of chakra poisoning. He will have some scars on his right arm, his chest and stomach, but they won't be much of a problem. There will also be some pretty heavy scarring on his scalp, but we expect that his hair should grow back fully and over them. Assuming he survives, he will have a hell of a story to tell about them." She gave a dry smile at that, which was completely ignored.

"His brain is a different story however. There was some significant bruising and some hemorrhaging with two broken vessels there. Frankly it is a certified miracle that only two were damaged. His skull is repairing as well as the rest of the bones. The bad news is that there is not much increase in brain activity over the night. There is some activity in the frontal lobe which is associated with thinking, but the rest is running on what you could call emergency power.

"His internal organs are across the board. His heart is fluctuating, which is why we have him hooked up to a battery there," the nurse stated, pointing to a pair of wires that ran to a black box. "His lungs also keep filling up with necrotic blood and we have to purge them every two hours or so. Naruto-san's stomach was ruptured by the cut across it and some of the gastric juices got out and damaged the liver, spleen, and right kidney. There was also a good bit of internal bleeding, from both the punctured lung and heart. We got that all patched up, but he is still very touch and go. Honestly the earliest I could imagine him waking up is probably not for another week, at least."

Anko nodded numbly, staring at her child with empty eyes. Anko started when she felt pressure on her arm. She instinctively dropped her hand for a shuriken, before remembering that she was unarmed.

"Sorry," the nurse apologized. "You should go get something to eat. It will help. Naruto-san won't be waking up in the next couple of hours, so you might want to take the chance to go home and get a shower too. We have a dozen messenger hawks on standby and have your address in the event that something does happen." Anko nodded again. As the nurse was leaving, she turned around.

"What is your name? I never got it."

"Inoue Orihime," the busty orange haired nurse replied.

"Thank you... for everything."

"Not a problem at all. I'm just doing my job." With a smile she exited the room. Anko dragged a chair over to Naruto's bed and sat down, resting her elbows on the mattress.

"Please come back to me Naruto. You are all I have left," Anko whispered to the comatose child, tears softly dripping onto the white sheets.

Anko woke up several hours later, mid afternoon judging from the angle of sun. Rubbing her eyes to clear them of sleepies, she yawned and stretched, joints popping noisily. Looking around she noticed that Naruto was still asleep, that nothing had changed. "Damn, there went my hope that all that shit was a majorly fucked up nightmare." Sighing she walked out the door as her stomach growled loudly. Standing outside Naruto's room, she debated what to do. She could go down to the cafeteria and get something there, but she was still in the clothes that she had rescued Naruto in, and was starting to stink, Naruto's blood on her coat and skirt. Deciding that an hour or two away from her son wasn't going to change anything, she left the hospital and walked back home. As soon as she exited the building, all her hate and rage at those six men returned, as if the sight of the dirt road reminded her of the alley where she had nearly lost her most precious person. Soon she was stalking, radiating an intense killer intent, giving her a decent sized bubble in the crowded streets, no one wanting to get any closer than absolutely necessary to her.

Anko didn't mind at all. She got home about fifteen minutes after she left the hospital. After locking the door behind her, she tore off her clothes, bundling them up and incinerating them with a minor fire release jutsu. She spent thirty minutes in the shower, cranking up the hot water to the point where it reddened her skin, scrubbing her skin raw where Naruto's blood had dried on her skin. Normally she had no problem with blood, she actually kinda liked it, but there was some psychological thing about it being her son's blood that made her feel filthy. When the water began to run cold, she exited the shower and dried off. Dressing in a spare set of clothes, she headed out for food, hunger pangs striking hard. She hadn't had anything to eat since the party the previous day. She wasn't surprised when her feet led her to Naruto's favorite ramen bar. She ducked in under the strips of cloth that provided some privacy to the patrons and sat down on the stool. There were two other customers there, but she ignored them.

"Hello Anko-san, how are you doing today?"

Anko paused to consider that question for a minute. Normally she would put on her snake grin and say everything was fine, but she was the complete and utter polar opposite of fine. "You would not believe me if I told you."

"Well, tell me about it. It helps to just talk with another person sometimes."

Anko looked up at Teuchi with a fusion of a dozen emotions in her eyes. "Naruto almost died yesterday. He might die today. And it's all my fault." Saying that she launched into a synopsis of the last thirty-six hours or so, glossing over the extent of his injuries slightly. Teuchi she noticed had fallen on the counter to support himself and his daughter Ayame was on her knees a few feet behind her.

"Where are the thugs that did this?" an unfamiliar growl sounded to her right. She looked over and realized that Shikamaru and Shino were sitting there. Shikamaru had the most expression on his face that she had ever seen, and Anko could almost see Shino's eye flashing from behind his shades. There was also a very noticeable buzz emanating from the ten-year-old Aburame.

"The Hokage himself led a squad of ANBU to arrest the six..." she trailed off, trying to find an appropriate epithet for the six men "_people,_" she continued, investing a whole world of hate, rage, and disgust into that one word, "and handed them over to Ibiki. I had a shadow clone watch, and it was extremely satisfying. I am sure I can get a copy of the tape if you want to see it."

"Perhaps," Shino said voice still thick with anger.

"We have to do something about this," Shikamaru finally said. "This was monstrous in the extreme. Even if Naruto makes a full recovery, those men have to be made an example of."

"Trust me," Anko said, a truly demented smile twisting her lips, "I'm kinda hoping that they get off. That way I can take them out myself. They tried to murder _my son_," the mind-numbing rage rising up again at the thought, "and they will pay, no matter what."

A bowl of ramen was set down hard in front of her slopping a bit of the broth. "On the house," Teuchi muttered, turning back to the kitchen. A lot of loud banging was heard a moment later. Anko slowly ate her meal not tasting a thing. As she turned to leave the stand, Teuchi called out to her. "Wait a moment and we will be out."

Anko looked surprised. "What about the stand? Don't you need to keep it open?"

"Anko-san, your son and our favorite customer is lying in the hospital in a coma. We won't lose the stand if we close a few hours early to visit him." Teuchi and Ayame emerged from the side of the building, locking the door behind them. Coming out front, Teuchi pulled down the security gate and locked that as well. Anko then led the two Ichirakus, Shikamaru and Shino to the hospital. Anko stopped at the main desk.

"What room is Uzumaki Naruto in?"

The nurse behind the desk turned to a thick book and flipped to the back. "Third floor, Room 25. Please be aware that visiting hours end at seven o'clock," the attendant recited mechanically. Anko led the group again, taking the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator to burn off some of the nervous energy that had been building up for the past day and a half. When the group reached the third floor, they counted the room numbers until they got to twenty five. Outside Room 25 were four masked ANBU. Anko ignored the guards and entered the room. It was a large room for a hospital, about fifteen feet across and twenty five long. There was a figure in red and white robes standing at the middle of Naruto's bed.

The Hokage looked over his shoulder briefly to see who had entered the room before he returned his gaze to Naruto. "Hello Anko-san," he said softly.

"Afternoon Hokage-sama."

"I am sorry that this happened. This is all my fault. I should have done more to ensure the boy's safety, and now, because I was so arrogant, believing in the good will of this village, he stands on the threshold of death."

"Hokage-sama, that is untrue. I left him alone after I had told him not to go out and join the celebration with no reason. He is a ten year old child. I should have known that he would sneak out to experience the festival eventually."

"You are both being idiots," Shino's calm monotone said. "Realistically, the only ones who are at fault here are the men that tried to kill him, and Naruto himself for breaking your rules Mitarashi-san."

Both adults turned to face the nearly emotionless bug-user, and offered weak smiles. "So what is going to happen to the men that did this to Naruto?" Shikamaru ask with almost as little emotion as Shino.

"Well, that is a bit of a problem. As civilians they should properly be tried in a civilian court, but if that were to happen, they would get off scot free, as there is almost no chance that the case would be tried before a judge that does not hate Naruto, if they could even find someone to prosecute. I could probably get it into the military court, as Naruto is a shinobi-in-training, but we run into the same problem as in the civilian courts. The only jounin that I can think of that wouldn't free them based on who it was that they attack come from your two clans," the Hokage said, nodding at the two ten-year-olds. "Even if a miracle were to happen and we did get three jounin that would try the case impartially, I can guarantee that the Konoha Council would interfere in some manner."

"What if you try them as traitors Hokage-sama? They did attack a Konoha shinobi-in-training, and that could be construed as trying to weaken the military, and the Hokage has the right to preside over cases of treason."

The Hokage looked at the Nara with a new respect. "I hadn't thought of that. Of course I still have to make it past the council, who will try to interfere whether or not they have the jurisdiction to do so. That is a very shrewd plan there, Nara-san."

"Meh, I read a lot of books when I get bored," which was most of every day, he didn't add.

"Also, I would suggest investigating whether or not this was an independent attack, or if it was orchestrated by someone." Shino calmly adjusted his shades as the Hokage looked at him.

"What makes you think that this was not a spontaneous attack?"

"There is nothing that leads me to conclude that this was preplanned, I am just saying that it is a possibility."

"Ibiki found no evidence to support a conspiracy against Naruto, or anything that points anywhere other than this being an isolated incident. Nonetheless, I will tell Ibiki about your theory and have him look again. There could be something he missed the first time around because he wasn't looking for it."

"Thank you for considering my theory Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen turned away from Naruto and the ninjas to address the other two people in the room. "Sorry for excluding you from the conversation."

"No, not at all Hokage-sama. Working on punishing the monsters that did this is far more important than being polite to us." The elder Ichiraku told the Hokage, waving him off.

"What I can't understand is how anyone could do this to Naruto. Anyone who knows him the least bit would know that he is one of the kindest people in this village. How anyone could mistake him for any kind of monster is beyond belief."

"As true as that is Ayame-san, most people don't think, they feel, and they let the feeling, not the thinking guide them. Emotion is simultaneously our greatest strength and our greatest weakness. But I hear that you make the best ramen in the village. Is that true?"

"I wouldn't say the best, but we are good."

"Well, to hear Naruto tell it, you serve nectar and ambrosia."

"Well, Naruto is not entirely unbiased you know," Teuchi responded with a wry smile.

"Regardless, I will have to stop by and try your beef ramen soon."

"It would be an honor to serve you Hokage-sama. Not to mention the customers we would get," he laughed.

"We would be absolutely swamped," Ayame added.

"Well, there is no such thing as too much business I suppose."

"As long as it doesn't come with paperwork."

"That would be true I suppose." Teuchi rubbed his jaw thoughtfully.

"Well as much as I wish to stay, I must get back to the Tower."

"Thank you for coming by Hokage-sama," Anko said somberly.

"My pleasure. I will talk to the nurse at the front desk and extend the visiting hours for you and get another bed in here. I doubt you want to go home right now."

"Thank you very much Hokage-sama."

"Nothing to thank me for. I am just doing the right thing. I will leave the ANBU out here. Just as a precaution. Right now we cannot be too safe. Anyways, good evening." The Hokage stepped out the door, closing it softly behind him.

After the Hokage left, no one talked, everybody absorbed in their own thoughts. Anko drew up a chair beside Naruto's bed, and took one of his hands in his, stroking the back of his palms, absently noting the faint rough spots where he had been burned. Teuchi and Ayame left first, about an hour after the Hokage departed. Shino and Shikamaru stayed until shortly after seven, saying that they needed to tell their clans about what had happened. After that Anko was alone again. She just sat there, looking at his face, memorizing it over and over again.

Eventually her stomach rumbled again and she went down to the cafeteria, but she forgot what she ate as soon as she put away her tray. She went back to her son's hospital room to find that another bed had been moved into it. She pushed the bed over to Naruto and lowered the bars. She climbed into the bed and pulled the sheets over her, fully dressed and reached out a hand to stroke Naruto's cheek. Unnoticed, tears fell from her eyes as she fell asleep.

OoOoO

Four days after the attack, Naruto got a visitor. Hinata had heard about his near-murder through the school grapevine the day after it had happened. It had taken her three days to work up the nerve to visit him though. Hinata entered the Yamanaka Flower Shop after school. Ino was at the counter reading a magazine.

"Welcome to Yamanaka Flowers. We have every flower in every shade for your every need," Ino announced mechanically. Hinata ducked down an aisle before Ino could look up. Looking at all the possibilities, Hinata wondered what she should get. She was well versed in the language of the flowers, and knew all the flowers in the store. She browsed for half an hour, before settling in her choices. Hinata advanced to the checkout counter.

"Hello Ino-san. I would like to buy these flowers," Hinata addressed the blond.

Ino looked up from her magazine, flipping her long ponytail over her shoulder. "Hey Hinata-san. How have you been doing?"

"Alright I suppose." She offered the bouquet to Ino.

Ino took the flowers and examined them. "Acacias and anemones. Acacia is for hidden love, and anemones are for sickness. Is there someone you care for in the hospital?"

Hinata diverted her gaze slightly and responded. "Yes there is. I thought that I would bring some flowers to him. I read somewhere that flowers can sometimes help people heal faster."

Ino held the flowers for a few seconds before a sly smile curved her lips. "These wouldn't have to do with Naruto would they?" Hinata blushed and ducked her eyes entirely. "That's what I thought."

"Um... Ino-san, could I pay for the flowers please?" Ino smirked and rang the dozen flowers up. When Hinata paid for them she fled the shop, head bowed to hide her flaming cheeks.

By the time she arrived at the hospital, she had gained control of her blushing, a faint rosy tinge was all that remained. She approached the help desk and demurely asked which room Naruto was in. The nurse jerked her head up and repressed a scowl at the mention of Naruto's name when she saw who was talking. Looking his name up in the directory, she muttered the room number to Hinata. Hinata thanked her and took the elevator to the third floor. When she got to his room, she activated her Byakugan and looked to see if the room was occupied, ignoring the four ANBU that flanked the portal. Thankfully it wasn't so she let herself in and closed the door. Hinata slowly approached the prone Naruto. She placed the bouquet in a vase and filled it with water from the sink.

Finally she sat in the seat provided, next to his bed. Hinata sat silently for a few minutes just looking at him. Someone had shaved his head at one point, presumably to heal the cuts on his scalp. She could see the white lines that crisscrossed his cranium in a helter skelter pattern. Hinata's gaze wandered down to his face, brows in a relaxed line, eyes closed, nostrils flaring with each breath, lips puckering slightly; chin thrust forward ever so slightly. Shyly, she raised a hand and placed it on the top of his head, her fingers delicately tracing the fine white scars. Next she felt the smooth skin of his forehead and lightly pressed the hair of his eyebrows into line. Daintily, she skimmed his eyelids, and caressed his cheeks with her palm. Using one finger she grazed the outline of his lips. Naruto's lips parted and he exhaled a warm, wet breath, pressing his lips to her finger. She went from normal to sunset red in zero point one second flat, retracting her hand so hard she hit herself in the chest. To make things worse she heard the doorknob rattle.

The nurse's lips twisted in distaste as she saw the Kyuubi container's name on her rounds again. She entered nonetheless, as she would get in trouble if she skipped him, regardless of who he was. She looked up from the chart she was studying, noting the bouquet of flowers on the bed stand, and the curtains blowing in the breeze. She frowned and slid the window closed. She was sure that the window had been closed earlier this morning, and he had not had any visitors that she knew since last night. Shrugging, she forgot about it. After all, he was only the demon brat. No one would care if someone tried to finish the deed the civilians had started.

On the wall below the window, Hinata clung to the sill by her fingertips. Spying a gutter one window over, she hopped the space separating the two windows and shimmied down the spout. At the bottom, she leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath. Hinata had no idea why she had jumped out the window. It wasn't like she was sneaking in when he wasn't allowed to have visitors.

Then there was the kiss. Logically, she knew that he was most likely just responding to physical stimulus, but she could still feel his warm lips pressing against her fingers. Leaning against the wall, she closed her eyes and cradled her hand against her chest. Someday she wanted him to do that when he was awake. Smiling faintly, she resolved that he would indeed do that one day. Her heart lighter than it had been in almost a week, she went home.

OoOoO

**A/N: **Apparently, I forgot to add an Author's Note to the end of the the last chapter leading to some confusion what had happened. When I first started Shinigami no Naruto, I only had a rough outline of what I had wanted to do, and as a result, SnN has grown somewhat organically. As such, it kind of got out of my control and I did not like some of the things that had happened. So, I decided to take a month off and rework it. The overarching plot will remain unchanged for the most part, but become more streamlined. For those who have already read SnN, the first changes don't happen until Chapter Four. For everyone else, please enjoy the new, and hopefully better, Shinigami no Naruto.


	3. Recovery

**Chapter Three: Recovery**

Over the next two weeks Konohagakure resembled a kicked ant pile more than a Hidden Village. The news started with the Nara and Aburame clans, both saying that Naruto had been nearly murdered in a completely unprovoked attack on his person. Of course, the other ninety percent of Konoha nearly went to war with itself over the attack. At the center of the debate were the six attackers. Most were parading them as heroes trying to rid Konoha of its cancer. The other faction, mainly the Naras and Aburames, with a few smaller entities like the Ichirakus and the Urahara Shop valiantly defended Naruto. The Hokage had to watch where he stepped very carefully, lest he push too hard and push himself right out of the Hokage's Tower.

At the Academy, very little got done for the first few days. Every student had a different account of what had happened, despite not one of them having better than third hand knowledge from Shikamaru and Shino. Still order was eventually established and life went on in the Academy.

Outside the Academy, things were not so simple, as the Hokage was experiencing firsthand the week after the attack. Sarutobi Hiruzen resisted the urge to stroke his throbbing temples, as that would be a sign of weakness, something that he could absolutely not afford to show in front of these people. Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu used to be his teammates, but Shimura Danzo had always been a staunch opponent of his.

"Let me handle the situation Hokage-sama. I can easily make sure that the six men who attacked Uzumaki-san will never be heard from again."

"No Danzo. Right now, the last thing we need is for the criminals in question to just vanish overnight. We just have to wait for the commotion to die down before dealing with them."

"Waiting too long could have its own consequences Hiruzen."

"I am well aware of that also Homura. But Right now, almost anything I do will worsen the situation eventually. If they go to court, they will be released, and then we will have to deal with Naruto's mother. There is no way that Anko would let an acquittal stand."

"The woman is deranged. She should have never been given the responsibility of caring for the child."

"Her son was a breath away from death Koharu. She is understandably upset at the moment. That is another reason why I am not releasing the six men. Anko might take it upon herself to avenge Naruto before they go to trial."

"Regardless, your stalling tactic won't last much longer." Homura reached into his robes and withdrew several papers stapled together. "Here are the petitions from the Shinobi Council, the Villagers Council, and the Merchants Alliance. Each one wants an update of the progress of the investigation into the attack. Also, the Shinobi Council wants an update on Uzumaki-sans status."

Giving up on maintaining a strong facade, Hiruzen released an explosive sigh, leaning back into the overstuffed chair, reaching for his pipe and tobacco and turning to face the large windows behind the desk. "Tell the Council that Naruto is still in a coma, and the rest that investigations take time. Leave the reports and go." Homura set the papers on the desk and the three exited the office after excusing themselves. "What would you have done Minato-kun?" Sarutobi whispered, staring at his successor and predecessor's likeness carved in stone. "I am seriously getting too old for this shit."

OoOoO

Anko had settled into something of a routine over the past seven days. She would wake up in the morning at home; get a shower, dress and head over to the hospital. She would check all the monitors to make sure that everything was what was normal for Naruto at the moment, and drag a chair next to the bed. Next Anko would take out a scroll from one of her pouches and start reading to him. She vaguely recalled reading somewhere that some coma patients sometimes recalled being read to and that helped them recover. She had no idea of the validity of the claims, but she was willing to try anything to get her son back. This scroll was on how to create a seal, how to mesh the myriad symbols together and make a functioning array. After reading for a few hours, she would leave and go to Ichiraku's for lunch, where she would update Ayame and Teuchi on Naruto's condition. After lunch she would return to the hospital to sit at his side. After the Academy let out for the day, Shino and Shikamaru would come by to visit for an hour or two before going home. When the sun started to set she would open the box of ramen she got from Ichiraku's and eat it. Anko would chat amiably with the nurse that was immediately in charge of Naruto, Inoue Orihime. She was a very friendly and outgoing girl, always having a smile for Anko.

Anko learned to keep a sharp eye on the girl however, as she was pretty clumsy. The first time she had tripped over one of the legs of the EEG machine. Anko had leaped to her feet, barely catching the expensive piece of electronics before it smashed into the floor. Despite that, Orihime was the most well-intentioned person Anko knew.

Anko also spent a good amount of time over at the ANBU Torture and Interrogation Headquarters. Ibiki had been more than happy to help her work through her anger. She had watched the tapes of the interrogations of the six men, as well as the recollections she had from the shadow clone that had observed. Each time she saw the tapes again, she wanted to smash something, which Ibiki obliged her with. Apparently, the Torture and Interrogation building had a room filled with many delicate objects that she could really let loose in. When she questioned Ibiki about the room he smiled slightly.

"We find it is a good idea to have an area specially designed to let victims let off a little steam. There are a few shops in the village that donate things to us when they have surplus that they absolutely must get rid of. I figured that the stuff was probably going to be destroyed anyways, why not destroy in a constructive way?"

"Well, I do agree that it is cathartic and makes me feel a lot better."

"Honestly, if it were up to me, I would put those six in a room, take you down to the armory, let you load up and let you loose on them. But the political atmosphere being what it is, the Hokage has to step lightly."

Every once in a while, the Hokage would drop by to check up on Anko and Naruto. He almost never stayed more than an hour, claiming that he was still dealing with the council.

A knock at the door interrupted her from her reverie. Anko twisted in her seat to see who was there. A man in a tactical vest was zipped up over his chest and an old scar crossed the bridge of his nose. He held a large bouquet of flowers in his hands.

"Um... Hello Mitarashi-san. My name is Umino Iruka. I am a teacher at the Academy and instruct Naruto's class. I came by to see how he was doing. I had heard he was pretty bad for a while but he is doing better now."

At any other time she would have sat back and thought about how cute he was, but now she just turned back to her son. "The doctors say he was real touch-and-go for the first day or two, but he has been stable for a couple days now."

"Well, that is good. Iruka set the flowers in an empty vase in the nightstand and pulled up a chair at the foot of the bed. "I am sorry for not coming sooner, but things have been really hectic out there since the attack."

"So I've heard."

Iruka sat there silently for a few minutes. "You know, if there is anyone that can pull through, Naruto is definitely the one."

"Do say that because of the demon in him?"

"What? No, I say that because he has not achieved his dream yet, and he wouldn't let himself die before that happened."

Anko chuckled once. "There is that..." She was silent for another minute. "What did Naruto do to deserve this? He has had to deal with the repercussions of having that fucking fox in him his entire life. Did you know that nine of the eleven members of the Konoha Council voted to execute him when he was born? And when the Sandaime classified his condition as a S-class secret so that the adults wouldn't tell their children about the Kyuubi, they still managed to poison their children against him by saying that he is someone to be avoided, that he is a an evil child. Did you know he has only two real friends?" She turned to look at the chunin with a look of utter despondence on her face. "I try to give him a halfway decent birthday and he ends up in a coma."

"Hey, look, this is not your fault. I know for a fact that Naruto does not blame you, so neither should you. You have done a very good job of raising Naruto. In any just about any other situation, he could have grown up to hate the village that despises him so. Instead you raised him to aspire to the highest post attainable, that of the Hokage's office. Trust me, you have done nothing wrong. It is the villagers who have done wrong, by hating and maligning a totally innocent child."

"Thank you."

"No problem. Everyone has their moments of weakness. It only means you are human." Iruka got to his feet and put an hand on her shoulder. "Naruto will pull through. I have no doubt about it." With that he exited the room, shutting the door softly behind him.

The next week passed in much the same fashion as the first, with one notable exception. On the second Wednesday after the attack, the Hokage announced that the six men involved in the attempted murder had been convicted by way of special military tribunal.

The Hokage was sitting in a seat by Naruto's bed with Anko. "How is Naruto doing?"

"About the same. The doctors say that he has gone into a persistent vegetative state. Basically he is brain dead, they say." The Hokage said nothing. The pair sat and made small talk. After a while Anko got up and walked to the door. "I am going to go out for a while. I've been sitting here for the last couple of days and I need to blow some shit up. Feel free to stay as long as you want." Anko left the room and took the stairs down to the first floor.

Walking down the street with her hand in her pockets the crowd picked up on her mood parting around her, whispering behind their hands. Anko ignored them; know if she gave them the least bit of attention that she would probably kill someone. She stopped by the house just long enough to pick up some tools to exercise with and roof hopped to the training grounds that surrounded the village. She started off with target practice, burying the kunai halfway up the hilts. Anko worked herself to exhaustion, barely remembering to take off her shoes before collapsing into her bed. She really didn't like spending too much time at the house anymore, because it was too quiet without Naruto.

She woke early the next morning. It had been a particularly bad night. She had been having nightmares for years but ever since the attack, they had been worse. Before it was usually about her master, whether seeing the experiments in his lab, or the branding of the Heaven Curse Seal, she usually woke from those in a cold sweat relatively quickly. These lasted most of the night, and that was what made them worse. Sighing, she got out of bed and made her morning toilet. She had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and headed out to the training ground to work off some steam before going to visit the hospital. Orihime had joked that the hospital had become her home, and she only visited the house.

An hour into her workout session, the training ground resembled a war zone. All of the trees in a fifty yard radius had been stripped of their leaves, and several had been rendered down to mulch. At one point there had been a large boulder at one end of the training ground, but that had also been destroyed. The target dummies that she had set up were missing limbs and sizable chunks of the torso. One had been cut in half. She returned home still unsatisfied, her workout leaving her with plenty of nervous energy to spare, and even more tired than before. To top it off, she was now sore and grumpy. She went straight upstairs and tossed herself onto her still slightly-damp sheets. Wrinkling her face in disgust, she ripped them off and chucked them in the hamper.

Honestly, all she wanted was a week-long A-rank mission, something that required lots of killing. Climbing into the shower for the second time that day, and not it was barely noon, she pitied the first person to piss her off. Not that it would take anything to set her off at the moment. She just stood in the shower, in a hazy state somewhere less than consciousness but more than sleep. She didn't know how long she stayed like that, but by the time she came to, the water was cold and she was starting to prune. Grumbling she got out, dressed in a third outfit and decided to try to get some reading done. Anko walked right by the bird sitting on the windowsill too wrapped up in her own world to notice it until it gave a very loud, very piercing cry. Anko froze and rotated on the spot to face the messenger bird. She saw the insignia for the Konoha Hospital on the flat document case on its back. She lunged at the bird, only to have it take to the air in startlement. The hawk returned a moment later giving Anko a look that told her what would happen if she tried to snatch it again.

Moving more carefully this time, she pulled the flattened scroll out of the document case, ignoring the bird as it took to the air once again. Her hands trembled as she unfolded the paper. Anko remembered that Orihime said that they would send a messenger hawk to her house of anything were to happen to Naruto while she was away. Unconsciously holding her breath she read the letter.

_Mitarashi-san,_

_This is a notice from the Konoha General Hospital. Please come and see Doctor Yakushi Sano at your earliest convenience._

She stopped reading it there; not wanting to continue in case it said that something had happened to Naruto. Dropping the letter in the middle of the room the dashed to the door racing to the hospital. She arrived blowing hard. Anko stumbled to the receptionist's desk; the nurses behind it had risen in alarm. She waved them off. "Where is Yakushi Sano?" she gasped. One of the nurses looked to her compatriots with a worried glance before responding.

"He is with a patient at the moment. If it is urgent you see him, we can call..." she trailed off as Anko was running full tilt down the hall. She took the stairs three at a time and skidded past the door to Naruto's room. The ANBU guards were gone, which did not bode well. Practically breaking the door down, she saw that the room was pretty full, with Doctor Yakushi, the Hokage, the four ANBU, Orihime, Nara Shikaku and Aburame Shibi and their sons in attendance.

But what held her attention was an upright Naruto, looking worse for the wear, but alert. Silently she approached him, gaining speed as the distance closed, until she cocked back a fist and blew him from his bed. Everyone erupted at that, but she ignored them all. She hopped over the bed and bent down to pick him up by the front of his hospital dress. She then pulled him into a bear hug, squeezing him tightly. Eventually, she heard Naruto gasping, so she released him and set back on the bed.

She looked him in the eye, anger and love warring for dominance. "I swear to fucking God, Naruto, if you ever pull anything like this I will slit your throat myself." That might have been an odd way for a parent to express their happiness at the return of a child, but Anko was anything but normal. Naruto may not have understood what the hell she was talking about, but he did know that she was just showing her love in the best way she knew.

"Okay, does anyone want to talk to me instead of talking over me now that Mom is here?"

Anko looked to the doctor in concern. He shrugged. "I figured you would want to be here for him, so I decided to wait on you. He has lost some of his short term memory so he remembers nothing."

"Alright then. What is the last thing you remember Naruto-kun?"

"Well, the last thing is probably unwrapping Shino's present at my birthday yesterday." The temperature in the room dropped sharply at that. Naruto looked around confused. "What? What did I say?"

"Naruto," Anko said softly, "after we went home after the party, you snuck out of the house to go see the Kyuubi Day Festival. When you were out, you were attack, and severely injured."

"But I feel perfectly fine now," Naruto interrupted, becoming more bewildered.

"There is a reason for that. I found you as the men were beating you and got you help. The thing is, you have been in a coma for the last two weeks."

Naruto was silent for a minute, absorbing the story. Then a grin cracked his face in two. "Alright I get it. Everyone is getting me back for pranking them, right."

"Naruto, look in the mirror here." Anko passed Naruto a large hand held mirror. What he saw shocked him. His head was covered in yellow bristle that was spider webbed with white. Naruto slowly raised a hand to feel his scalp, flinching back at first when he touched one of the scars. Wherever hair grew over the scars, it was now a pure, snowy white in contrast to the yellow strands on the rest of his head. Pulling his hospital gown downs he saw two puckered white scars on his chest, below and to the right of his left nipple, as well as a thick, ropy scar across his stomach. Finally, there were three white lines clearly visible extending the length of his right bicep. Tentatively he touched them, as if not quite believing that they were real.

"What happened to me?" Anko quietly told him how badly he had been injured in as detached and clinical way as possibly, trying to avoid going into any great detail.

"I see," he whispered. "Hey old man, what about the guys who attacked me?"

"Not to worry. They have been dealt with," the elderly Hokage answered.

Next the Aburame clan head stepped forward. "Naruto-kun, Shikaku and I wish to tell you that while the commune has treated you reprehensibly, there were those who entreated for your convalescence."

When Shikaku saw Naruto's complete lack of comprehension he sighed and rolled his eyes. "What the smart ass here means to say is while the way that the village treated you sucks, everyone here was praying for you."

"Oh, well, that is very nice to know, I guess." The Hokage chucked at the boy's ill ease at being told that there were so many people who were watching over him.

"Alright then. I think we have intruded here long enough." The Hokage gathered all the adults and led them out, leaving Shikamaru and Shino behind.

"So how has school been while I was out?"

"Things were very... interesting for a few days after your attack." Shino said from behind the upturned collar of his coat.

"Everyone was guessing what had really happened. Of course, none of them were right." Suddenly he grinned. "It should be interesting to see everyone's reaction to your scars at school though." Naruto ignored that in favor of examining his hair in the mirror. He had to admit, along with his whisker birthmarks on his cheeks, the pattern of white hair among the yellow gave him an exotic air. The door opened behind the group again, and the doctor stuck his head in.

"Mitarashi-san, may I speak to you for a minute please?"

Glancing back to Naruto for a second she nodded and exited the room. The pair stood in from of the room as Yakushi spoke. "Well, Naruto seems to be as well as can be expected. His brain seems to be behaving normally, and there doesn't appear to be any lasting damage. The Kyuubi's healing factor has fixed him completely as far as we can tell. The only mental effect of the attack is his loss of short term memory for that evening. I don't want him performing any strenuous activity for at least a week. That includes shinobi training."

"He isn't going to like that."

"I would imagine not, but I would rather him not overexert himself and injure himself before he is completely recovered."

"I thought you said that the Kyuubi had fixed everything?"

"It appears that it has, but as you can imagine we have no experience with this kind of healing. I am just being safe for now."

"What about school?"

"He can resume attendance when we release him, on the condition that he refrains from any physical or chakra exertion. I can speak with the Academy about that."

"Is there anything else, any medication, or foods?"

"No, no medication. However he will be suffering from some muscular atrophy, so when he resumes his training he will have to work to attain his previous condition." He turned and walked away and Anko reentered the room.

"Hey brat, ready to get out of here?" Naruto was off of the bed faster than you can say "hell yeah!"

Anko opened the window and jumped out, landing on a roof across the street. Naruto turned back to Shikamaru and Shino. "See you tomorrow guys," He waved as he followed his mom out of the window.

"I'm getting out of here before someone troublesome comes."

"For once, Shikamaru, I agree."

OoOoO

Naruto did not feel normal. Over the past six years, he had developed considerable physical strength and lots of stamina. So he couldn't figure out why a bit of roof hopping was tiring him out so much. He had been traveling by roof for two years now, and could go from one side of the village to the other without losing a bit of breath, but he was barely halfway home, and he was gasping like an old geezer. Anko looked around when she noticed that Naruto wasn't at her side, noticing that he had fallen behind her and slowed down to let him catch up.

Naruto stopped and leaned on his knees gasping. "What's wrong with me? I feel like someone punched me in the gut, and I can't get my wind back."

"You have been on your ass doing nothing for two weeks, brat. Your muscles have deteriorated. It's called atrophy. We are going to have to work twice as hard as usual to get you back in shape"

Naruto grimaced, straightening. "This sucks. Remind me to never get knocked into a coma again." Anko grinned slightly at that. Leave it to Naruto to make a joke at his own expense.

Anko changed direction unexpectedly heading away from the house. "Hey Mom, where we goin'?"

"Well, you just got out of the hospital, so I figure we are due for a little celebration."

"Mom, I'm still in my hospital gown. My ass his hanging out. I can't go anywhere like this!"

"Well, I was thinking of going to Ichiraku's for an all-you-can-eat meal, but we can go home instead."

"That's below the belt Mom." Naruto was torn. All the ramen he could eat and go out practically naked, or less ramen later with more clothes. He was at the point where he was starting to take his self-image seriously, and his whole image would be ruined if he was spotted at a restaurant only little more than his birthday suit. Plus the gown had flowers on it. Pink flowers. After considering the merits of both sides, his stomach won out, overriding his inner fashionista. Ramen was ramen, even if he would look like an idiot while eating it.

Anko leaned back and roared. "Oh my God Naruto-kun. You are so predictable."

"Shut it. Your entire diet consists of dango and sake."

"Watch it brat. I am the one that is going to be paying for your ramen."

Naruto turned away heading to the ramen stand, the words "hard ass" and "ramen Nazi" drifting back. Scowling a moment, Anko grinned evilly. She knew the perfect way to get her hands on the ultimate blackmail.

Naruto got some very strange looks when he arrived, one mother scowling impressively as she covered her daughter's eyes to keep her from seeing the blond's muscled ass. Anko waited a few minutes until Naruto's ramen had arrived and he was slurping it up before whipping out an instant camera and snapping a shot off before he knew what had happened. When he did, his face darkened to a dangerous shade, the other diners' not-so-subtle snickers not helping.

Trying valiantly to not collapse into a laughing fit, Anko sat down next to Naruto, avoiding an elbow, knife hand thrust and an errant heel, all delivered while eating his ramen without anyone else notice. draping her tan trench coat over his shoulder. Naruto looked at her and gave her a _very _direct stare. "You do realize that child abuse is a crime."

"Aw, come on. That was just too good a chance to pass up. You would have done it to me of our roles were reversed."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't have ogled your ass."

"I did not ogle your ass."

"Well, the girl over there had her eyes covered, I doubt her mother is interested in me at all, and those two guys haven't looked away from their meal the entire time we were here."

"It wasn't me. I wouldn't ogle my son's ass."

"Whatever pervert."

"Watch it runt, or do you want to pay for your own noodles?"

Sullenly he turned back to his lunch and ignored her until they got home. Anko went up to her room and when she returned to the main floor, she could hear the distinctive sound of flesh impacting wood. Naruto was out back training. Anko shook her head. If she didn't know better, she would say that Naruto had been talking to Maito Gai or Rock Lee, but she had been scrupulous in keeping the handful of meetings between her and the green spandex-clad jounin as short a possible when Naruto was with her, but he seemed to have contracted Gai's fanaticism for training anyways. If he ever started preaching about lapping Konoha or scaling the Hokage Rock on his hands, she would have to do something, probably involving a large hammer and short term amnesia.

Regardless, she was glad to know that he took his training seriously. Shikamaru had not managed to rub his lazy ass personality off on her son, which would have been almost as bad as Naruto emulating Gai.

Anko called him after a couple of hours for dinner. He stumbled in, his shirt and pants sopping wet. Anko pinched her nose and jabbed at the ceiling when he came in range of her nose. Smiling insolently, he took his sweet time, lingering around her for a few seconds longer than necessary. Sure it was petty, but revenge was revenge.

The next day Anko woke him up by summoning a couple of snakes and wrapping him up completely. Naruto approached the Academy slowly, grin on his face. He was definitely looking forward to shocking his classmates. He arrived early to set up his welcome present for Iruka up. The few students that had arrived early with Naruto saw his form hunched over by the teacher's desk in his trench coat and sighed. Naruto would never change they supposed. Putting the final touches on his present, Naruto left the room He wandered about the grounds for half an hour, killing time. He wanted to arrive when the classroom was full, just as Iruka was calling the room to order. It would make his surprise all the more enjoyable.

When the final bell had rung, Naruto raced back to the classroom. Striding in nonchalantly, he slowly crossed the front of the room, allowing everyone to get a good look at him. He was wearing a similar outfit to his normal attire, the only difference being instead of wearing a loose long sleeved shirt; he was wearing a billowing blue sleeveless tunic, one that gaped in the front to show the two puncture scars and the slash scar on his stomach, as well as the three parallel scars on his right bicep. Shikamaru sighed in annoyance. "Showoff," he whispered to his friend as she took his seat next to the Nara.

"Dude, after everything I have been through, this is the least I should get. Quiet, Iruka-sensei is about to get his welcome back gift."

Shikamaru put his head down in his arms. He wanted nothing to do with the eruption that was about to occur. Iruka had sat down after calling the room to order after using his trademark head amplifying "demon head" jutsu. Absently Naruto made a mental note to ask Iruka to teach him that jutsu one day. Iruka tugged harder on the seemingly stuck drawer. Naruto's smile grew a little feral.

With a mighty heave, Iruka finally opened the door, only to wish he hadn't. Honestly, he should have seen this coming as he fell backwards, a spring loaded pop up fanged snake colored in the distinctive brown and white pattern of a pit viper jumping out at him, exploding in his face a covering Iruka's face in makeup. There was a white foundation, with eye liner, lipstick and the stuff that gave girls cheeks that rosy hue. The effect was of a man dressing up as a geisha. Badly. Naruto fell out of his chair as the ceiling started to dance on the walls from the laughter, anime-style, but not loudly enough to drown out a very irritated "NARUTO!" Oh, yeah, things were back to normal.

Naruto was still giggling as he walked home late from school. Iruka had assigned him detention predictably, and Naruto had spent an hour scraping gum off the bottom of all the desks and tables in the school. But it had been totally worth it. Other than that, today had been better than usual, everyone clamoring for him to tell what had happened to him that fateful night two weeks ago. So he sat on the green lawn at lunch, consuming the delicious bento his mother had made him, showing off his scars. He figured that they should get some show, after all the trouble he had gone to get them. Even Sakura-chan had paid attention to him, which he was sure to be the height of his week.

Anko met the ten year old at the door as he entered the house. "Ah ah, turn around, we're heading right back out." Confused, he did as he was told.

"Where are we going Mom?"

"The Hokage wants to speak to you."

"What about?"

"That would be telling," although she knew exactly what it was he wished to discuss. The recent attack on Naruto had convinced the old man the necessity of revealing certain secrets to the boy.

Ten minutes of roof hopping found the mother-son pair at the doors admitting entrance to the Hokage's Tower. The two guards let them through without challenge. Naruto kept pestering her with questions as a ten year old was wont to do all the way up the flights of stairs to the top where the Hokage's office was.

"Mitarashi Anko and Uzumaki Naruto for the Hokage," Anko said as she approached the chunin that had secretarial duty today. Again they were waved through the doors immediately.

The Hokage looked up from his towering stacks of paperwork at the intrusion, eager for anything to break the mind-numbing sameness of paperwork. "Ah, Anko-san, Naruto-kun, what a pleasant surprise."

"Ohayo Grandpa!" Naruto squeaked out, one hand waving a furious hello. He loved being able to visit the old man in the Hokage's Tower whenever he was able.

"And a very good day to you also Naruto-kun."

Anko walked forward and sat down in one of the armchairs set in front of the desk for visitors. Naruto followed suit, draping his tan trench coat over the back of the chair, allowing the Hokage to see him dressed in the loose blue tunic and white pants. Sarutobi set his paperwork aside and steepled his fingers. He had been trying to think of a diplomatic way to bring up the topic of today's discussion but had not succeeded. "Naruto-kun," he said in an unusually grave voice, "how are you feeling?" He decided to start off with something relatively neutral and then work his way up to the big stuff.

"I'm okay. Sometimes my arms ache or I get a bad headache, but other than that, I feel great."

"That is very good to know. There are two reasons I wanted to speak to you today. The first is an S-class secret, something that concerns you personally."

Naruto scrunched his face up in confusion. Why would the Hokage know something secret about him and classify it so highly? "Really? What is it? Is it a bloodline? Some super secret jutsu my mom and dad left for me?"

"In a manner of speaking." He sighed. There really was no easy way to say this. "Naruto-kun, tell me what you know about the Yondaime and the Kyuubi."

"Well, the Yondaime was known as Konoha's Yellow Flash for his secret jutsu, the Flying Thunder God Technique. The Kyuubi was the greatest of the tailed beasts and attacked Konoha ten years ago, when he and the Yondaime killed each other."

"That is very good Naruto, but not entirely factual." Naruto was confused. "What I mean to say is that the Yondaime was not able to kill the Kyuubi ten years ago, but he was able to defeat it. He created a special seal to be used on a newborn child, one that would imprison the Kyuubi in him or her." He sat back with bated breath waiting for the boy in front of him to make the logical conclusion.

"But the Kyuubi was defeated on October 10th. That means... that I am the Kyuubi?" Hiruzen winced at the lost expression on Naruto's face. Fortunately he was spared having to explain further by Anko's intervention.

Anko snatched Naruto's chin and forced him to look at her. "Naruto, do you think that I would adopt a demon, let a demon live in my house, just down the hall from where I sleep?" When Naruto didn't answer, she continued. "Naruto, the Kyuubi was an engine of hatred and destruction. It had no conscience and no sympathy for those it harmed. Are you anything like that? No you are not. You are a kind, smiling child who doesn't know how to hate. You are my son, not the bastard demon in you." Hiruzen averted his gaze as she pulled Naruto into a hug. Anko cleared her throat a minute later signaling that it was okay for him to look back.

"Why did the Yondaime choose me to seal the bastard fox into?"

"Well, there are two reasons for that Naruto-kun. You see, only a newborn would be able to handle the stress of having a demon inserted into its body, and there were only three children born that day. He didn't want to force this burden on another family when he wasn't willing to do so himself. So he chose his own son to become the jailer for the Kyuubi."

Naruto's eyes were as big as saucers. "That means that the Yondaime..."

"Yes, that Namikaze Minato was your biological father."

Naruto slumped back in his chair, a stunned expression adorning his features. "So, what about my biological mother?"

"Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato were not married. Your mother died after giving birth to you, the youki from the Kyuubi killed her in her weakened state."

"So they are both dead." He looked down, absolutely dejected.

"But I do have some good news for you Naruto-kun. Starting tomorrow I am going to start training you as my successor as Hokage." That immediately broke Naruto out of his funk.

"Seriously? Does that mean that you will be teaching me all kinds of super strong jutsu?"

"No, unfortunately not. Most of what I am going to be teaching you is on the administrative end of things, how to file the paperwork, read documents, assign missions, and deal with diplomats and foreign dignitaries."

"Aw man, that sounds so boring though."

"And it is Naruto-kun. Being Hokage is not just about being the strongest ninja in the village. In fact, I would say that your ability as a ninja is the least important aspect of being Hokage. You will rarely get to see combat, save for the chance that Konoha itself comes under attack. Being a good judge of character, being able to tell fact from fiction, and the ability to assign missions and send ninja out when you know that not all will return are all more important. If you can't make hard decisions then it doesn't matter how strong you are."

Naruto nodded slowly although it was clear that he understood very little of the Hokage's speech. Hiruzen sighed. "Well, come here tomorrow after school and we will talk more. But for now, I think that you should be getting home." Naruto waved a distracted goodbye and walked out the door. Anko gave the elderly Hokage a nod and followed her son out the door also.

The next day a cheery Naruto appeared at the Hokage Tower a half past four, more than ready to begin his training. Hiruzen explained the first duty of the Hokage, managing paperwork. He had his chunin secretary, a Nara, divide his work into two piles today. One was for the Hokage, mission requests, salary increases, that kind of thing that only the Hokage could decide on. The second pile was made of less sensitive work, shinobi requesting a new hitai-aite for example. Sarutobi carefully explained what kind of requests were to be approved and what were to be vetoed. Setting Naruto in a small desk beside his, Hokage and apprentice set to work. Every once in a while the Hokage would pick up a stack of papers that Naruto had finished with and check to see how he had signed them. There were a couple of instances where a request that should have been vetoed got passed and vice versa, and the Hokage pointed these out, along with why each should go one way or the other.

Naruto picked up on the paperwork surprisingly quickly, given how low his grades in the Academy were. Two hours passed quickly and both were leaving the Tower for home. Anko greeted him by jumping him from the ceiling as he entered the house before asking how training to be Hokage was.

"Kid, I've heard Sarutobi-sama say that paperwork is a Kage's greatest foe, so you better get used to it."

"How did I know you were going to have a great big laugh at my expense," he muttered, only sending Anko into greater gales.


	4. Graduation

**Chapter Four: Graduation**

**Twelve years after the Day of the Kyuubi**

October fourteenth dawn bright and cheery. For once, Anko woke Naruto in a normal fashion, gently shaking his shoulder. Half an hour and eight bowls of cereal later Naruto was ready for school. He was dressed in the same style clothes that he had gotten six years ago upon entering the Academy. He had heard somewhere that the reason that ninjas usually wore the same outfit every day was because it was kinda like a security blanket. With how everything could change between one day and the next, some measure of sameness helped ninja cope. It rather similar to the observation that the reason why the most powerful ninjas in the village gained their eccentricities as a coping mechanism.

A light blue shirt was on his torso, loose and billowing, sleeves extending to his wrists. Under the shirt he had a sleeveless ninja mesh undershirt, wrist-to-elbow bracers, and a pair of bracelets. There was a brown leather belt cinching the shirt tight across his waist, as well as holding up the loose white cargo pants he was wearing. A pair of octagonal greaves were worn over the pants, which were taped down, covering the entire shin with three or four inches of fabric extending past the bottom, covering the anklets he wore. On the back of his shirt he wore a personalized version of the Uzumaki swirl crest. The swirl itself was unchanged, but there were nine black tail silhouettes that were wrapped around the circle. Over it all he wore a smaller version of the trench coat his mother wore, personalized crest sewn large on the back. Naruto snatched a black cloth on his dresser and tied it over his hair. He attached two weapon pouches to his belt and a kunai holster to the greaves under his shirt and was out the door.

Several hours later, Naruto was in the classroom waiting to be called down for the final examination. His day had not been going that great. First up was a paper test, his worst enemy. Then was a taijutsu practical, which soured his mood further. Normally he had no problem in his act as the dead last of the class, but when it came around to test time, he always had to struggle not to let loose and show them his real skill. Fortunately, the last exam was a simple dust clone. He had struggled with the damn ninjutsu for years until his mother had come up with a solution. His problem was that he had an absolutely obscene about of chakra, and because his coils were so overdeveloped, he could not muster the control required for the clone. Anko had equated to trying to attach a squirt gun to a fire hose. She had gone to the Hokage and learned the Shadow Clone Technique, and had taught it to him. Whereas he had failed to create a dust clone because no matter what he did, he overpowered the thing, the more chakra he pumped into the Shadow Clone Technique the better it worked.

He waited anxiously as one by one the students were called into the next room. He wished Hinata, Shikamaru and Shino luck as they were called until he was the last one left. Finally when he was called he went into the next room. Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei were sitting behind a table with several rows of folded hitai-aites on it.

"Alright Naruto-kun. Perform the Clone Technique, making at least three clones to pass."

"Sure thing Iruka-sensei." But instead of performing the four hand seals for the Clone Technique, Naruto made an unfamiliar one, looking like a modified ox seal and grunting in concentration. There was an eruption of smoke behind him and Iruka opened a window to clear it out, all three hacking and coughing the while. Behind Naruto were thirty copies, each one seated at one of the desks. As one all thirty one Naruto's spoke. "So do I pass Iruka-sensei?" When Iruka and Mizuki realized that the clones were not dust clones, but fully corporeal shadow clones their jaws dropped anime-fashion. Iruka sputtered incoherently for a moment before pausing to compose himself. "How is the world do you know the Shadow Clone Technique Naruto-kun?"

"Uh, well, you know how I have such trouble with dust clones? My mom figured out why. She says that I have so much chakra that I can't focus it enough to make a dust clone. So she went to the Hokage and got permission to teach me the shadow clone."

Iruka and Mizuki exchanged a look. "Well, while you didn't perform the requested technique, I think that your obvious mastery of a much more advanced version could pass you." Iruka picked up one of the steel and cloth bands on the table. "Congratulations Naruto-kun. You pass." Naruto reached out and took the hitai-aite from Iruka's hand. He grinned widely, trembling slightly.

Leaping up into the air he thrust the hand clutching his new hitai-aite in the air and screamed "YATTA!" at the top of his lungs. Bowing once to his senseis he raced outside, wanting to show off the badge of his graduation to his mother. He hurriedly tied the forehead protector around his forehead, over his head cloth, looking around when he got outside. He ignored the snorts of disgust that the adults made when they saw he had passed and mutters.

All of a sudden he was thrust from his feet, something having collided with his torso, throwing him to the dirt. Seconds later, Anko had her son in a scissor hold on her back as he struggled to escape. "Arg, get off Mom."

"You want me off you, get me off maggot," she growled. Grimacing, he twisted in a certain way, closing his eyes as he slipped down out of her grip between her legs. Grinning in victory, his smiled faded to a sickly remnant as Anko drew a kunai, an unpleasant smile on her face. He could count the number of times he had seen that smile on one hand, and every time, it had ended poorly for him, thrice landing him in the hospital, despite his unusual healing factor. Slamming his hands together in the ram seal, he rapidly fled using the Body Flicker Technique.

The ANBU sitting on the roof of the Hokage Tower rose to the balls of his feet when he saw two figures flitting across the roofs of Konoha. Squinting he was able to make out their identities and he relaxed. One did not get involved when Mitarashi Anko was celebrating with her son after all.

The morning of October fifteenth dawned and Naruto arrived at the Academy with barely restrained glee. He had finally graduated, and was officially a genin. He sat down in his usual seat in the back of the class, bouncing up and down in it trying to burn off some of the excess energy. He frowned slightly as Sakura and a girl named Ami crashing into the room, arguing who had made it in first, and then brawling over the right to sit next to the Uchiha, which rapidly involved most of the rest of the kunoichi, with two notable exceptions. Hyuuga Hinata who quietly took her seat next to him, and the Higurashi girl, who reached up into her hair as if to pull something out to thrash the other girls with. Several minutes later the brawl continued unabated, at least until Umino Iruka entered. He shouted at the girls to calm down and take their seats, but he was completely ignored. Scowling he made a trio of hand seals, and performed what Naruto had termed the "demon head" jutsu, enlarging his head to several times its normal size, and magnifying his voice to the same degree.

"I SAID TO SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!" The mob of girls froze at that, everyone staring at the normally placid chunin. "Now that I have your attention, will you please take your seats?" He paused until they had done so. "Alright. Today is your first day as official genin of Konoha. However, you are still green rookies and have the whole of your careers as shinobi ahead of you. But the hardest part is just around the corners, so don't think you can slack off now." Picking up a clipboard, he continued. "Now we have assembled the teams, trying to balance them so that there is no one team that is too much stronger than the rest." Iruka paused again, this time when a memory of the previous night had struck him.

**Flashback no jutsu**

There were eight jounin, one tokubetsu jounin and one chunin crammed in the Hokage's office, including Mitarashi Anko. Iruka noticed this, along with several of the other jounin. "Mitarashi-san, this is a meeting for jounin only. We are deciding the genin cell arrangements for this year's graduating class."

"Yeah I know. I'm here as a jounin-sensei."

"No disrespect, Mitarashi-san, but you are only a tokubetsu jounin."

"Your point?" Anko said, leering unpleasantly. One of the other jounin took mercy on the chunin instructor and whispered something in his ear. Iruka's usual smile melted into a sickly remnant.

"Uh, nothing at all Mitarashi-san. If the Hokage doesn't have a problem with it, neither do I."

"Good. Glad you feel that way."

"Ahem," the Hokage coughed, clearing his throat and garnering the attention of the room at large. "As you know, you are gathered here to be assigned your genin cells for this year's graduating class. "Does anyone here wish to petition to receive a particular genin cell or student.

"I do," Kakashi spoke up from somewhere in the middle of the crowd. "I think seeing as I have the last remaining Sharingan eye in the village, I should receive Uchiha Sasuke as one of my genin." The Hokage nodded.

Sarutobi Asuma raised his hand. "I would like to receive Nara Shikamaru and Akamichi Choji this year." Again the Hokage nodded.

"I don't care who else I get, as long as I get Uzumaki Naruto." Several of the jounin muttered at this, drawing a sharp glare from the purple haired woman. One man went a little too far and muttered something about traitor's whore teaching the demon brat. Anko disappeared in a flash, wrapping herself around the man, a kunai at his throat and groin. "I would watch what you say, sir. That is my son you are talking about."

"Anko-san, if you please?"

Leering dangerously, she released the man, nicking his cheek on the way and lapping the blood off her kunai.

"Now, as you were saying, you want your son on your genin cell. Anko-san, you know that there are rules against parents instructing their children as genin."

"I don't really care. I have been training him for the last eight years, and I don't care to see his training fucked up because he has a jounin-sensei who sees him as his prisoner, rather than the prison." The Hokage leaned back and took a contemplative drag on his pipe.

"Alright then Anko-san. He is yours."

**Flashback no jutsu kai**

"Alright I am going to read off the teams now. Team Seven, Haruno Sakura, Inuzuka Kiba, and Uchiha Sasuke." Naruto heard Sakura crowing, how she was destined to be with _her _Sasuke-kun.

"Team Nine, Higurashi Tenten, Hyuuga Hinata, and Uzumaki Naruto." This Naruto barely heard Shikamaru, Choji and Shino be teamed together as Team Ten. Naruto lowered his head into his arms in contemplation. Hyuuga Hinata wasn't so bad he thought, but he really didn't know, as she was kinda weird. He had tried to befriend her when they had entered the Academy together, but whenever he had tried to talk to her, or hang out, she had claimed prior engagements. She sat next to him in class, but almost never spoke to him, in favor of blushing and playing with her fingers. He didn't know much about the panda-haired girl, other than she was a weapons mistress already. She had never really interacted with him, and on the few times she had, it was with none of the venom and acerbity that many of the other children displayed, so she was already better than ninety nine percent of the other children in the village in his book.

"Alright. You have a one hour break for lunch, so be back here on time to meet your senseis."

Getting back an hour later, Naruto took his seat. "Hey, sit down everyone," Iruka called from his position at the chalkboard. "Now, allow me to introduce you to your senseis." The door to the classroom opened and eight jounin filed in. Three by three, the students were lead away by the adults, until it came time for Team Nine to receive their jounin-sensei. Naruto could detect a faint whistling that came from outside the windows, and the blood drained from his face. Hinata and Tenten, who had chosen to sit up by their new teammate noticed this and wondered what was wrong. Naruto was muttering under his breath, something to the effect of "please not her," over and over. The two kunoichi exchanged a concerned look behind his head. Did Naruto know their sensei already?

That question was answered a moment later as Iruka was interrupted by one of the floor-to-ceiling windows exploded in a shower of glass. She popped up and struck a pose after nailing a pennant that said "Mitarashi Anko, Arrived" to the ceiling. Naruto's head smacked into the desk.

"Hey Naruto-chan, what are you doing sleeping in class. Get your mangy ass up here on the double. That goes for Higurashi Tenten and Hyuuga Hinata too." Naruto sat up and answered, "Hai, Mom," before descending the steps to the front of the class. Tenten and Hinata exchanged another glance, this one saying, "this crazy woman is his mother?"

"Alright you three. I want ya to meet me at training ground nineteen in ten minutes. Don't be late." With that, she formed the seal for the Body Flicker Technique and disappeared.

Naruto turned to his two teammates. "Okay, we gotta hurry. Training ground nineteen is on the other side of the village. Trust me when I say you don't want Mom mad at you. It gets hazardous to one's health when she is. Follow me." Hinata had been blushing furiously ever since the team assignments had been announced, and personally was glad for a little more time to think of what she was going to say to Naruto when the time came.

When the three of them reached the designated training ground, they found their sensei sitting in a log, swinging her legs, and munching on a stick of dango. The training ground was rather cookie cutter, similar to most of Konoha's training areas. It consisted of a large clearing, maybe a hundred yards in diameter, with a medium thick patch of forest surrounding it. There were a dozen or so stumps, varying in height from knee to shoulder height at one end with targets attached. There was also a small stream, a dozen paces across, and maybe two or three deep to the other end. Finally, there was a small rock outcropping in between the targets and the stream.

"Well, I bet you three had a whole shitload of questions, but those can wait for the moment. I want us to get to know each other a bit first. I'll start off. My name is Mitarashi Anko. You will refer to me as just plain Anko, and I will do the same. That applies to you too Naruto. You aren't here to learn to be nice, so there is no use in pretending at all. I'm thirty years old and I specialize in assassination and interrogation. My favorite food is dango and green bean tea. This is the first time I accepted to teach so it's going to be new to all of us. Okay your turn," she said, pointing to Tenten.

"My name is Higurashi Tenten, I am twelve years old, a freshly graduated genin, I specialize in long range combat, my favorite food is sesame dumplings_. _I help run my father's weapon shop and blacksmithy in my spare time."

"My name is Hyuuga Hinata," Hinata whispered, poking her fingers together. "I am twelve years old. I am the heiress to the Hyuuga clan, and my favorite food is zenzai and cinnamon rolls. I like to make medicinal salves and press flowers as hobbies."

Naruto was torn. He wanted to shout his name and his stuff, but his mom was sitting right in front of him. So he decided to keep most of his speech the same, just tone it down. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konoha! My favorite food is ramen from Ichiraku's. My hobbies used to be playing pranks and causing trouble but since I graduated I made the promise to become the greatest shinobi in all the lands so now I'm training to reach that goal. My likes are my precious people and my mom and my dislikes are the people who treat me bad. Oh, and I am twelve years old also."

Anko noticed the very different looks the two girls were giving him. Tenten glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, giving him a weary look. Hinata on the other hand peeked at him from the corners of her eyes, poking her fingers and blushing faintly. Who would have guessed that her son had a fan girl?

"Well, I am not very good at this teaching thing, so why don't you just ask me any questions that you have?"

"Uh, Mo- I mean Anko, what kind of jutsu will you teach us?" Naruto blurted out.

"That depends very much on you. We will focus on what you need to learn before what you want to learn. What I mean, is there are things you have to learn before you can learn other things. But when you do get to the point when I start teaching you ninjutsu and genjutsu, you won't be learning any big flashy jutsus. I was trained as an assassin as you know, so everything I know is pointed to doing the maximum amount of damage with the least amount of energy. Also, much of your training will be focused towards stealth and speed. I'm not saying you won't learn how to fight, like the rest of your former classmates, but that combat will be a secondary concern for you. Most of the time, if you haven't taken out your target with the first strike, you will retreat to try again."

"You said you specialize in assassination. Are we going to be an assassination squad?" Tenten inquired.

"Yes, I am going to be training you as an assassin/reconnaissance squad, that means that you will learn to kill a lot earlier than most of your classmates." Tenten looked slightly green at that announcement. Naruto looked queasy. Surprisingly, Hinata was the most collected about it.

"When will we be doing out first mission?"

"When I think that you three are ready for it, not a second sooner." Naruto's face fell slightly at this. He was looking forward to being able to leave the village for a little bit soon.

"Well, enough questions for now." Anko hopped up to her feet. "Okay, so before we start training, I have a test for you three. One of the things you are going to be told to do is to sneak into a enemy base and steal something. What you three are going to do is break into Sarutobi Asuma's residence in the Shinobi District and steal all his cigarettes without tripping any alarms or traps. You have two hours to complete your assignment. If for any reason you fail to get his smokes or trip something, you all go back to the Academy."

"Even me?" Naruto asked.

"Especially you brat. There is no way that you should fail this if you have been listening with even half a ear for the last four years to what I have been teaching you. Anyways, daylight is burning. Remember, back here in two hours or back to the Academy you go." And before anyone had the time to open their mouths to even protest, she was gone.

"How the hell are we supposed to break into a jounin's apartment and steal his cigarettes in two hours?" Tenten asked rhetorically.

"Well, at least we know that he won't be home."

"True," she answered Naruto. "But that still leaves us with the fact that it is a jounin's apartment that we are supposed to break into. And she didn't tell us where Asuma-sensei lives either."

"Oh, I know where he lives. I help the Hokage with his paperwork sometimes and I have seen his address before. What?"

"You help the Hokage with his paperwork sometimes?" Tenten's tone implied more than mild disbelief.

"Uh, yeah. I have been helping him out for years now."

Before Tenten could reply again, Hinata broke in. "Ah, Na...naruto-kun, Tenten-san, An...anko-sensei said that we only ha...had two hours to st...steal A..asuma-sensei's cigarettes. Sh...shouldn't we get go...going?"

"Hinata-chan is right," Naruto said. "It is going to take a while to break in, and we don't have a lot of time, so we should go now."

"Alright then Naruto-san. Lead on." Tenten bowed, extending one hand in a slightly condescending manner. It was clear that she did not take Naruto at his word about him being the Hokage's assistant or about him knowing where Asuma lived. Hinata glared at the other girl for a moment as Naruto lead the way. Naruto was a bit of a braggart, but he was not a liar, at least when it counted. Denying he had pulled a prank didn't count.

The three new genin didn't speak as they transversed Konoha via rooftops. When they got within two blocks of where Naruto said where Asuma lived, Naruto called a halt. Pointing down and across the street, Naruto gestured to a wholly unremarkable apartment on the third floor of a red tiled, whitewashed building that could be swapped with a hundred others in Konoha.

Staring at the building, Naruto asked "Hinata-chan, can you scan the area for anyone who shouldn't be here?"

Activating her bloodline, Hinata responded with a question of her own. "Wh...who should I be lo...looking for?"

"Asuma-sensei or his team, the Hokage, any other jounin in the building, anyone who might run us off really."

"There are five people in the building. Two on the first floor in what looks like an office. Someone in a bedroom on the second floor, and two people in a hallway on the third. Wait, never mind, they left. Went roof hopping."

"Great. Okay, I kinda know the guy, and if he has his apartment trapped, and it is possible that it isn't, lemme go first. I know the Shadow Clone Technique, so I will let them go first just to be safe. Any questions?"

Eying Naruto in mild disbelief, Tenten shook her head. Naruto looked at Hinata, and when she didn't have anything further to add, he made the prodigious leap across the street and stalked toward Asuma's apartment. Once the trio were on the roof of the target building, Naruto created a trio of clones and let them take point. Slipping down off the roof into the complex, they navigated the hallways until they came to apartment number 384, residence of one Sarutobi Asuma. Putting a hand on Hinata's shoulder, he leaned close to whisper in her ear.

"See any residual chakra?"

"No, Naruto-kun. The doorway looks clean." Nodding, he gestured for Hinata to take the lead and everyone waited for her to clear the entrance.

Reaching into a pouch on her belt, she withdrew her set of thieves tool. Going through three picks before she found the one that fit, she jiggled the pick and then abruptly snapped the torque wrench a quarter turn and the lock clicked open.

Patting Hinata on the shoulder, he motioned for her to move aside. Complying, one of the three Naruto clones held the door barely ajar while Clones Two and Three ran their palms over the frame of the door before Clone one slowly eased it open. Before One had opened it more than three or four millimeters, Three grabbed his shoulder, signaling for him to stop. Seeing a nearly invisible thread attached to the other side of the door, Clone Two reached up and snipped the thread while Two kept tension on the long end.

Easing the door open again, they froze once more when the door bumped into something on the inside. By now the door was open enough for one of the clones to poke his head inside. He breathed a sigh of relief when all he saw was a coat rack in the corner of the doorway. Clone One and Three entered the apartment as Two kept pulling on the thread that was attached to the door. Once the thread was slipped off the hook that was attached to a complicated lever and pulley system that would have flung a number of shuriken and kunai at them.

Naruto, Tenten and Hinata waited outside until a clone came back and gave them the all-clear. Closing the door behind them, Tenten gave Naruto a look. "What was that about Asuma-sensei's apartment probably not being trapped?"

"Well, I was wrong. So sue me. The bastard is almost as lazy as Shikamaru sometimes."

"Ho...how did your clo...clones disable so many tr...traps so qu...quickly Na...naruto-kun?"

Naruto grinned. "Lots and lots of practice."

"This seems too easy though. Your clones disabled all these traps too quickly." Tenten had risen to the balls of her feet and her gaze was darting around, expecting something to happen.

"Hey, give me some credit here."

"Why don't we ju...just find A...asuma-sensei's cig...cigarettes and leave qu...quickly then?" Hinata suggested.

"Alright, my clones have cleared the entire apartment, but keep an eye out in any case. We made it in, now let us not screw this up now." Eying Naruto again in surprise, Tenten went down a hallway to what appeared to be a bedroom. There were no cigarettes on the wardrobe or nightstand, nor on the counter in the bathroom, so she was preparing herself to start digging through his drawers when a hushed shout from the entryway drew her attention.

Unsheathing a kunai in preparation to have to fight, Tenten carefully walked back down the hallway. Her caution was unnecessary in any case. Naruto had been searching through the kitchenette attached to the living room when he had found a drawer with a half dozen partially smoked packs. Pocketing the slightly crumpled boxes, Naruto motioned for them to move to the doorway. But when Naruto opened the door, there was someone that was not supposed to be there. He tried to give a warning, but Shikamaru had already caught him in his Shadow Imitation Technique.

Once Shikamaru had successfully captured all three members of Team Nine, Asuma came slouching around the corner, a cigarette wobbling from the corner of his mouth. "Well well well, what do we have here?" he drawled.

"Nice call Asuma-sensei," Choji continued.

Practically snarling, Naruto strained against Shikamaru's technique. "You are never going to break my technique Naruto-kun. You should know by now that the Shadow Imitation amplifies my strength five times over."

Naruto didn't get the chance to reply because he died before he got the chance. "Uh, what just happened?" Shino asked in uncharacteristic confusion.

Shikamaru just hung his head and let 'Tenten' and 'Hinata' go. "You just tried to knock out a shadow clone with your bugs Shino-kun."

"What? A shadow clone?"

"Yep," 'Tenten' and 'Hinata' replied in unison, simultaneously dropping the transformations they had on.

"How did you know we were here though," Clone One asked.

"Because I agreed to participate in your graduation test. Why do you think it was so easy to get in?"

"I thought something was off about this whole thing," Clone Two replied.

Meanwhile Choji just looked confused. "So do we fail Asuma-sensei?"

"Nah, when I said for you guys to catch any intruders for your test I never actually expected you you be able to catch them.

"Oh. Well I think this is cause for celebration! Yakitori it is then!"

OoOoO

Three miles away, Naruto and team dropped out of the trees in front of Anko. "Mission: success," Naruto proudly proclaimed, tossing the loot to Anko.

"Surprise surprise, you three actually passed. Well, congratulations then on officially becoming active-duty shinobi of Konoha. Now get out of here you three. We are done for the day. Be back here at ten o'clock tomorrow. We are going to go shopping." She departed with a rather gruesome grin, vanishing in a puff of smoke.

"Well, she is interesting to say the least," Tenten said. "How did you learn the Shadow Clone Technique Naruto? It is a kinjutsu, not something you can just pick up anywhere." Tenten had rounded on the dobe, curious as to how the dead last had gained such a powerful ability. Hinata perked up almost immediately. She considered herself to be a Naruto expert, and she was intensely eager to learn anything about him.

Naruto lowered his head, and told the tale of how his mother had figured out that he had too much chakra to do a dust clone, but a higher level clone would be easier for him to do. This boy was a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a mystery. And Tenten loved riddles.

Hinata was smiling to herself. This was exactly why she idolized the blond boy. He couldn't do an Academy technique, but then turned around and whipped out a Kage-level one. His resolve and determination were his best attributes to her, and his kindness and cheerfulness were only icing on the cake.

It was just then that Naruto's stomach made itself known. Grinning sheepishly he said, "you guys want to come get lunch with me? I'm gonna go to Ichiraku's."

Hinata was ecstatic. _Naruto-kun _asking her out for lunch. He was asking Tenten along too, but this was more than she had ever gotten from him before. She felt the blood in her cheeks rising, and nodded her assent. Naruto looked at her with a strange expression, but then looked to Tenten. "I guess. We should try to get to know each other better since we are on the same genin squad." Ramen wasn't Tenten's favorite food, but she could eat it with her teammates.

"Alright, follow me," Naruto said grinning what Tenten would later dub his 'happy-go-stupid' smile. Naruto led his two new friends across town to the ramen bar. Naruto greeted the owner with a wave.

"How's business been Teuchi-ossan?"

"Pretty good Naruto-kun." Naruto seated himself at the bar, Tenten to his left and Hinata to his right.

"Are you going to introduce us to these two beautiful girls you have with you?" This took both girls by surprise. Tenten had never had anyone call her beautiful, tomboy being the more usual adjective. Hinata blushed again, murmuring something unintelligible under her breath.

"Oh, yeah. This is Tenten-chan and Hinata-chan. They are on my genin team."

Tenten frowned briefly at Naruto. They were teammates for less than two hours and already she was Tenten-chan? She could understand Anko applying the suffix to her as her sensei, but the boy really didn't have any sense of propriety. Hinata giggled slightly. Naruto had called her Hinata-chan from almost day one, but it always gave her a bit of a boost when she heard it again from his lips.

After Teuchi and Ayame had introduced themselves and taken the trios orders Ayame leaned on the counter to talk to Tenten.

"Don't let it bother you Tenten-san, it's just the way he is."

"Let what bother me?"

"He called you Tenten-chan. It's just a part of his personality. It doesn't mean anything." Tenten accepted this, as it really did seem to fit with the blond's personality. When the food finally arrived, Tenten was impressed. Ramen wasn't her favorite food, but she could see why Naruto loved the stuff so much. Tenten sat there in amazement after she finished her second bowl of chicken ramen as Naruto finished his eighth bowl of miso ramen. Excusing herself after lunch was done, she went home. She had some questions for her father about her teammate.

Higurashi Kouseki greeted her from behind the register as Tenten walked into the ground floor of her family's residence. It was a large, two story structure, the smithy and shop occupying the ground floor, with the residence above that.

"How are you doing Tenten?"

"I'm okay Father. I got assigned my genin cell today."

"Oh, really. Who are you with?"

"Mitarashi Anko, Uzumaki Naruto, and Hyuuga Hinata." Her father's face darkened at the first two names.

"So you have the snake... woman and the brat on your team?"

"…Yes, Father. What wrong?" Her father didn't seem to be best pleased by her sensei and teammate.

"How that... _woman _ever got to be a jounin-sensei is beyond me. And with _him _too? How the Hokage could have let _him _graduate the Academy is beyond me," Kouseki growled under her breath.

"Err... Father, what is wrong with Anko-sensei and Naruto-san. I agree that Anko-sensei is a little intimidating, and Naruto-san is a moron, but they don't seem to be bad people."

"I can't say it straight out, but you need to be careful around your sensei and the boy. They are both incredibly dangerous people. The brat especially is someone to be wary of. He may seem nice enough, but you don't know him like I do. For that matter, same goes for your sensei. She is a good enough shinobi I guess, but she has a dark past."

Anko she could believe that about, but Naruto? He was all cheer and fluff. She couldn't imagine anything remotely dangerous about the thick skulled blond. "What could possibly be dangerous about Naruto-san? I mean, he already knows the Shadow Clone Technique, but other than that, his skills are surprisingly bad."

"Just be careful Tenten. Just be careful. They both have some pretty dark secrets, some that would turn your hair white." Kouseki interrupted his daughter's question. "Leave it at that daughter. Believe me, I would like to tell you, but I am restricted by the Sandaime's law. Any more I cannot say." And with that, her father excused himself, telling Tenten to man the register until he got back. Not that she minded much. It would give her time to think.

OoOoO

Hyuuga Hiashi didn't react much better to the news of Hinata's teammate than Tenten's father did. Hinata had gone to her rooms immediately after entering the house, intending to work on the family ledger, as she had not attended to it since the day before yesterday. She vaguely recalled that one of the branch members told her that the pantries in one of the branch house buildings were running low. But almost before she had gotten started, a knock sounded at her door.

"Enter," she replied. Hinata had expected one of the branch house servants, come to tell her of some detail that required the approval of the mistress of the house, but instead she found Neji, her father's brother's son. Neji had been touted as a genius among a clan of geniuses, so she knew that it was most likely her father summoning her. After all, you did not send the head servant to sweep stairs.

"Hello Neji-kun."

"Hello Hinata-sama. Your father requests your presence in his study at your earliest convenience." Hinata sighed. Whatever her father wished to talk about would probably not be pleasant. Her father was a master of innuendo, an only used such polite language when something had gone catastrophically wrong, or he was extremely angry. His anger was almost always cold, as befitting his position as the head of the First Clan. After all, it would be unseemly for the shinobi second only to the Hokage to lose control of himself when angry. Either way, at her earliest convenience meant ten minutes ago. Marking the column she was working on, she put the ledger away and stood up, gesturing for Neji to lead the way. She knew the way to her father's study all too well, but the heiress to the clan went nowhere unaccompanied, even when she was a failure and an embarrassment to the name.

When they arrived Neji knelt and announced her presence to Hiashi. He bid her enter and she did, folding her legs under her on the mat before his desk. Hiashi ignored her in favor of the letter he was working on until he finished it, rolling it up and handing the scroll to one of the omnipresent branch house members at hand. He dismissed the attendants with a wave of his hand. Once the room had emptied he addressed his daughter.

"Tell me daughter, who was assigned to your genin cell today?"

"Mitarashi Anko, Uzumaki Naruto and Higurashi Tenten."

Hiashi scowled. "So you have been put under Orochimaru's former apprentice and put on the same genin cell as the demon brat. You are a disgrace to the clan, but even you deserve better. I shall have to speak with the Hokage tomorrow about rearranging the genin cells."

Hinata lowered her gaze to the ground, letting her bangs hang to obscure her blush. "A-actually Father, I-i am s-satisfied with m-my genin cell. Anko-sensei seems t-to be a capable kunoichi, and Tenten-san and Naruto-san are nice p-people." Hinata may be shy, but she was not stupid. Who knew what her father might do were he to learn that she believed herself to be in love with her blond teammate. Hiashi remained silent for several seconds, examining his unfortunate daughter. There was something more here, something other than mere approval of her sensei and teammates. But he was damned if he could figure it out. It was times like this that he missed his dead wife the most. She would probably know exactly what was going on with his firstborn, and how to solve it. Well, if she was truly content with her team, he might as well leave her there.

"Well, if that is what you want. But let me warn you. Be wary of your sensei, Hinata-chan. Her first master was Orochimaru, so who knows where her loyalties truly lie. But be warier of your teammate, the Uzumaki brat. He is even more dangerous than Mitarashi-san. Do not get too attached to either one, for it will only end badly." He then dismissed her, returning to his paperwork.

Hinata left her father's study deep in thought. She knew that her sensei was not well liked among the civilian population. She wasn't so sure about the shinobi half, as most were more than a little scared of the purple-haired jounin, as she was known to be more than a little bloodthirsty. In fact, most people thought she would become the next head of ANBU's Torture and Interrogation Section.

Naruto, of course, she knew quite well, having been stalking the kid for years. Unfortunately, her father's warning towards the blond was all too typical of the adults of the village. She had gone to the Shinobi Archives last year in an attempt to ascertain exactly why he was so hated. But other than finding out his birthday, October 10, there was nothing about him in the Archive. Pulling out the ledger she had been working on earlier before she was interrupted by her cousin, she went back to work.

OoOoO

The next morning found all three genin at the designated training ground at ten o'clock on the dot. Anko was already there, opening a box of dango. "Good morning," grinning brilliantly. "Today we are going to go shopping for you," she said pointing at Tenten and Hinata. Tenten and Hinata looked at each other.

Why do we need to go shopping for Hinata-san and myself for?"

"Why for clothes of course." That confused the two kunoichi. Why did they need new clothes? Tenten thought her clothes were fine. She opened his mouth to ask, but though better of it when she saw her sensei smile. She swallowed the words and smiled hesitantly.

"Good then," Anko exclaimed. "Off we go." Tenten was starting to have serious doubts about the sanity of their jounin-sensei. She seemed to slip from a very Naruto-like happy-go-lucky to happy-go-die at the drop of a hat. At the very least, she was probably bipolar. Soon enough, Anko spotted the shop she was looking for, and lead them inside. Turning to the Tenten she said, "We are going to buy you some dark shirts here. That Chinese thing you got on is pretty, but rather impractical for two reasons. One, It doesn't blend into the background very well, and two, you seem to like to use sealed weapons, and It doesn't have many pockets."

Tenten thought about that for a minute. "I guess I can see your point. Just as long as I don't get anything like that," she said gesturing to Anko's top.

"Really? I find it very comfortable."

"Naruto sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we all know that Mom. But then again, most girls have something called shame. Frankly I am surprised that you have never been hauled off for public indecency."

"Oh really" she replied. In a flash she had Naruto in a submission hold, face pressed into her midriff, arms twisted into what appeared to be an uncomfortable tangle. Naruto tried to say something but it came out mostly as raspberries, which set Anko off into a giggling fit. Once Naruto was released, he crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at his mother. Looking to the teenage girls he sighed.

"Look, why don't you two go pick yourselves out some clothes. She is going to be out of it for a while. Mom really won't care what they look like as long as they are dark." Looking at Hinata he said, "go pick out a dark jacket or something and I am sure that will satisfy her."

While Tenten and Hinata were shopping and Anko was being herself, Naruto wandered around the store, looking at all the different clothes. He was in the footwear section when he spotted something unusual. It was a pair of wooden sandals, but with two pieces of wood attached to the underside, so that the wooden soles were two or three inches above the ground. Sitting down on a bench, Naruto removed his blue shinobi sandals and put the new ones on. Walking back towards his teammates, he noted that the wooden sandals made a soft clacking noise as he walked.

"Hey Mom, what are these things called?" Naruto asked as he got back to the dressing area, lifting one foot sideways and pointing at the sole. Anko, Tenten and Hinata turned to see what he was talking about.

"Those are called geta Naruto-kun."

"Cool. I was thinking of getting some. I thought that I could bolt some metal onto the bottom of them so that when I kick, it'll hurt a lot more than normal."

"And the fact that those geta don't make you the shortest person on the squad has nothing to do with it either."

Naruto's face flushed red and he started shouting at Anko that that wasn't the reason he wanted them. Hinata blushed at his denial, and Tenten giggled a bit. Typical Naruto. When Naruto turned away, Tenten showed Anko what she had chosen. She had four shirts, all in a dark red, with the front lined with pockets for scrolls. Hinata had found a bulky black jacket similar to the one she was already wearing.

As they exited the store after Anko paid for their purchases, Naruto turned to Anko. "Hey Mom, do you know of any place where I could get my geta modified?"

"I don't know. One of the blacksmiths around here might do it for you, I suppose."

"Naruto-san, my father runs a weapons shop and blacksmithy. We could go there and I am sure that he could do that for you."

"Alright. Hey Mom, lets go now!" Anko rolled her eyes and sighed, motioning for Tenten to lead the way. She did so, and ten minutes later they approached a modest, two story building in the shinobi district of Konoha. Neither of her parents were shinobi, Tenten explained, but her grandfather and great grandfather had been, so her father had inherited the house in the shinobi district, along with the business.

Tenten opened the door to the shop, and hoped that her father wasn't manning the register right now. Fortunately, her mother, Chichi, had arrived home the previous day after inspecting some of the iron mines that supplied their store with iron and coal. Chichi was an older version of Tenten it seemed. The elder Higurashi woman wore her hair in the same style as her daughter, and had on a similar Chinese-style shirt. When she saw who had entered the store, she smiled brightly and came to greet her daughter and her team. After introductions were out of the way, Chichi moved them to a back room and seated them all on couches.

"It is very nice to meet you all," Chichi said, and she really seemed to mean it, much to the surprise of Naruto and Anko. Seeing the looks on their faces, Chichi explained. "I am not a Konoha native, you see. I was raised in a small mining town to the north. I met my husband Kouseki when he was on inspection one time. We eventually fell in love, and I moved here. I am not one to hold the actions of a teacher, or a parent against someone, unlike most of the village it seems." Tenten and Hinata looked from Chichi to Naruto and Anko at this. Both knew that the other two members of their team were not well liked, but neither knew the reason.

"Well, you did not come here to hear about my life. What is it I can do for you today?"

"Uh, I was wondering if you could modify my geta here." He reached into his backpack and withdrew his three pairs of geta. "I want a thin sheet of metal attached to the bottom here, so that when I kick people, I can do more damage than normal," Naruto explained.

"I see. Well, I think that can be done." She took the proffered footwear and taped a note to them, then putting the wooden sandals on a shelf with other items to be customized. "I'll get my husband to modify them tonight for free, because you are a teammate of my daughter. She can bring them to you tomorrow."

"Ah, thanks Higurashi-san."

"No problem. Feel free to come by any time you need shinobi equipment."

"Sure thing Higurashi-san." Naruto was surprised by Tenten's mothers offer for him to come by her shop.

"Thank you for speaking with us Higurashi-san," Anko said, "but we must be going. We are already behind on training as it is, so they will have to work twice as hard today to make it up." All three genin's faces drained of blood at that, fearing to think what Anko could think up. Chichi smiled and waved goodbye, wondering how hard her daughter's sensei would push them today. Anko-san certainly seemed like a hard taskmistress, if the reaction given by the three teens were anything to go by. Chichi went back to the counter and her magazine. She would just have to go all out on dinner to make it up to her daughter.

Back at training ground nineteen, Anko turned to Tenten. "Alright brat, you need some serious work. You are a long range weapons specialist; there is nothing wrong with that. However, just because you prefer to fight at a distance doesn't mean that you should neglect your close combat skills. So what we are going to be doing is working on you hand-to-hand combat. "Anko then turned to the other kunoichi.

"Hinata, your greatest weakness is your lack of self confidence. You seem to believe that you are a terrible shinobi, which is definitely something you are not. Compared to most of your family you probably are a bit sub par, but compared to the shinobi population at general, you are definitely above average. Just because you don't measure up to your fathers ridiculous standards doesn't mean you are totally worthless."

Stepping back and turning her students to face one another she continued. "I want you two to spar. Tenten, all your ranged scrolls are off limits. This is to work on your weaknesses, not your strengths. While your hand-to-hand skills are okay, okay is not enough. If you were ever to face off against a wind-element user, you would be in some dire straits. You cannot always count on your fights playing to your strengths, so it is important to work on your weaknesses even more than your strengths."

"Hinata, you are always afraid of harming your teammates with your Jyuuken. While it is understandable to a degree, not going full out on your sparring partner hurts them also. If you hold back on their part, how are they ever going to improve themselves? Truthfully, you really aren't shinobi material. You are too kind and gentle to really be a decent shinobi easily. That does not mean that you never will be a good shinobi just that you have to work harder to kill your heart. If you hesitate in battle, you will get yourself killed, and worse your teammates. Every time you fight, you have to imagine that your sparring partner is the enemy, because that is what they are." Pausing for a moment, Anko considered what to say next. She bent down and whispered in her ear "fight as if Tenten were trying to steal Naruto from you." Anko grinned as Hinata's took a tomato hue, expression hardening and activated her Byakugan, settling into a Jyuuken stance.

The pair of kunoichi were fairly predictable. It was plenty clear that Tenten was itching to jump back an unleash one of her manifold ranged scrolls on the other girl, but Anko's restriction was clear in her mind. From the get go, Tenten was forced onto the defensive, taken aback by the uncharacteristic fierceness of Hinata's attack. Tenten warded a palm strike away from her torso with a forearm and drew both her fists back and thrust them forward in a double hammer blow. The retaliatory strike caught Hinata off guard, causing her to break her attack routine and stumble back several steps, trying to gain the breath that the unexpected blow had forced from her lungs.

Tenten backpedaled rapidly, gaining some breathing space. She wondered what Anko had told the other girl to evoke such a response. Whatever it was, it was effective, having completely removed any trace of Hinata's usual hesitancy. Settling into an aggressive attack stance, Tenten leaped at Hinata raising one hand and dropping an elbow on Hinata's raised guard. She then launched a straight fist directly at Hinata's face, which Hinata evaded by bending backwards at an almost unbelievable angle.

Hinata immediately tapped her hand three times on Tenten's overextended arm, closing off the tenketsu there. Tenten immediately retracted her fist and scowled. Having her tenketsu sealed really wasn't much of an impediment, as this was a pure taijutsu match, but it did sting a bit. The two combatants separated and circled one another, searching for an opening. When it became obvious that Hinata wasn't going to offer an opening to her, Tenten decided to make her own. Tenten launched a high kick at Hinata's head, only to have it blocked by her forearm. Hinata rushed in as Tenten's leg rebounded and tapped a point on Tenten other leg. A moment later the traitorous appendage gave out on her. She collapsed in a heap and scowled at Hinata. Anko stepped in and ended the spar, granting Hinata the win.

Blushing Hinata bent down to offer the brunette girl a hand to help her up. Considering the hand a moment Tenten sighed and accepted her hand. Hinata bent and tapped another point on her leg, and then Tenten was able to regain use of it.

"Sorry Tenten-san."

"Huh, what do you mean sorry? You won fair and square. There is nothing for you to apologize about. This just means that I will have to work harder so that next time I can last a bit longer." The rosy hue in Hinata's cheeks increased and she ducked her head.

"Well done you two," Anko interrupted. "You both did pretty good. Tenten, now you see why you can't just rely on your ranged skills to attack with and Hinata, you aren't totally worthless after all. Alright you two, we are done for the day. Be at the training ground tomorrow at ten. Brat," she said, directing the last at Naruto, "we need to have a talk." Hinata and Tenten exchange a look but didn't dare question Anko right then.

Back at the training grounds, Anko spoke. "Alright. So we are going to be doing a review of the basics of the Snake Fist. It was developed by my former sensei, Orochimaru. Now that you are on a genin team, you will have to be more careful than ever when training outside of the house.

Climbing onto one of the stumps, Anko continued. "Okay, remember that the Snake Fist is all about misdirection and speed. With the Snake Fist, you strike with your whole body, using your legs and torso to power your strikes. The Snake Fist relies on precision strikes to the weak areas of the body, such as the heart, solar plexus, throat, temples, groin, and joints."

Naruto got up on another stump at the other end at Anko's instruction. "Alright brat, we are going to go through the katas starting with the basics first." Anko struck at Naruto with a wide looping attack, explaining the method behind it at the same time. "One, spread your legs wide, to provide a large base. Two, One, you attack the weakest parts of the body, such as the neck, stomach and groin, and go for major vein and arteries like the jugular vein and femoral artery. Second, you make large motions with your limbs, to build up a bit of momentum." Raising the arm with the kunai clutched in it, she continued. "Don't ever stop the motion of your arm when you are attacking until you hit your target." Anko proceeded to sling her arm about slowly, keeping the motion smooth, circular and flowing. "Generally speaking, you will be attacking high or low, avoiding the targets center of mass, so you want to keep your kunai in line with the direction your arm is moving. Even when attacking the heart or lungs, you don't try to strike straight in, but come in at an angle."

Stepping closer, she demonstrated and further explained the concept. "If you attack straight on, first of all, you will most likely end up stopping the flowing motion we are aiming for, in favor of pulling your arm back to chamber the strike." She thrust her kunai forward, stopping it just as she touched the cloth of his shirt. "Now, while you could slip your kunai in between the ribs and successfully strike your target, you are just as likely to hit a rib. Now of you use those circular motions we were talking about you with either come down through the throat, or come up under the ribs. Either way, the wounds are going to be bigger, and harder to heal, assuming they aren't fatal." So the next two hours were spent with Naruto stabbing the same stump over and over again.

OoOoO

The next two months were absolutely brutal to Naruto. Every day Anko got him up at seven in the morning by chucking kunai at various tender parts of his body and dragged him down to training field nineteen to work on taijutsu for two hours after his warm up calisthenics, consisting mostly of laps around Konoha and his vertical push ups. Then, she would take him out to breakfast and be back to meet Tenten and Hinata at ten.

During their team meetings, they trained nonstop. Naruto she set to doing various chakra control exercises, while setting Hinata and Tenten to stamina-increasing exercises for two hours each.

Then they would break for lunch and go back for more training. Early on in their training Anko had gotten her hands on some special paper. She said that when someone channeled their chakra into it, the paper would show that persons elemental affinity. When she handed one slip to Naruto, the paper split in half. She frowned at that, and handed two other sheets to Tenten and Hinata. Tenten's dusted, and Hinata's crumpled.

"Okay Anko, wanna explain what is wrong?" Naruto was still holding the halved pieces of paper.

"Nothing is wrong; it's just that you have the rarest affinities in Konoha. The cut means you have wind affinity. You," she said looking at Tenten," have earth affinity, and Hinata has lightning." Naruto was grinning to kill upon learning he had a rare affinity.

After lunch they would go back to the training grounds and work on chakra control, and whatever random topic Anko had selected for that day.

Anko taught all three the tree walking and the water walking exercises a few days after graduation. After seeing that Tenten and Hinata easily grasped the skill, she set them to lying down on the water, which both increased the difficulty, and increased the speed at which they exhausted themselves which in turn gradually enlarged their chakra coils.

Naruto took several days longer to master it, and during that time, displayed just how incredibly huge his chakra pools were. Hinata examined him with her Byakugan once, on Anko's insistence. Normally, a person's chakra coils were finger thick strings weaving around the organs and bones. Naruto's coils were several times thicker than a normal person's. Hinata compared it to yarn versus rope.

Naruto spent every day for a week at the hot springs, all day long, hours after Tenten and Hinata and even Anko had dragged themselves away in exhaustion. In the two month training period, Anko never saw him suffer from chakra depletion in the slightest, something that irritated Tenten, and made Hinata blush all the brighter.

Nevertheless, when Naruto mastered water walking, Anko had him pluck leaves with his chakra, and float them over various body parts, increasing the number of leaves as he got better. They started off with a leaf on the forehead, and ended up with several on the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees and ankles.

The exercises that Anko set the pair of girls to were far worse than the chakra control exercises that Naruto performed. Their exercises ranged from push ups, with Anko sitting on their backs, to sitting on the underside of a tree branch for a whole afternoon, channeling chakra to their arms and legs to prevent all the blood from rushing to their heads.

The three women just got used to the idea that no matter what they did, Naruto never seemed to run out of chakra, to the point that he was able to sit on the underside of the tree branch for over an hour longer then they had, until he got bored. In the afternoons in which Anko had them spar, Hinata and Tenten would switch off against Naruto, the other taking over when the first became too tired. Naruto wasn't a terribly great person to practice _with, _as his taijutsu still sucked, but he was perfect to practice _on. _Naruto could take an truly mind boggling amount of damage before requiring a breather, often able to go half a dozen rounds with each of his teammates, and back up ten or fifteen minutes before anyone else.

In the afternoons, Anko taught them many, many things, beginning with weapons. Anko had the three of them throw ten shuriken and ten kunai at a target stump. Predictably, Tenten nailed all twenty, Hinata got eighteen, and Naruto got eight. So Anko kept him behind and worked with him on his accuracy. Next, she tested them on their skill with hand-to-hand weapons combat. Basically, she taught them a modified kenjutsu style, changed to allow for the fact that the weapons being used were ten inches instead of three to four feet.

Most of what the Academy taught boiled down to how to block an attack, and how to either force an opponent to range, or set up for a taijutsu battle. Basically, there was virtually zero instruction on knife fighting, something Anko soon corrected.

Knife fighting was quite a bit different from any other armed fighting. With a sword or long melee weapon, there were a lot of long strokes, to take advantage of the long cutting edge of the weapon. But a knife had a cutting edge of only six or eight inches, so most of the strikes were short and brutal, designed to put an enemy down for the count as quickly as possible. Also, there were a lot of stabs and hooking cuts, something that was somewhat risky with a longer blade as it could get caught in the enemy's corpse by sticking in bone or something.

Much to Naruto's dismay, they didn't learn a single jutsu the entire two months they spent training. Instead, the time was spent on learning the assassin's weapons, mainly senbon, and poisons, something that Hinata had a little experience with, given her hobby.

Throwing a senbon, Naruto learned, was absolutely nothing like throwing a kunai or shuriken. With a kunai or shuriken, all the power came from the wrist. If you threw a senbon with a wrist, all it would do is go tumbling end over end, and you would never see it again. The trick to throwing a senbon was to draw the power from the elbow and shoulder, so that it did not spin at all. Finally, she introduced them to poisons.

Anko took the trio to her and Naruto's house. It was a medium sized building with a kitchenette attached to the dining room, a living room, foyer, two bedrooms and two baths. The house was decorated with bright and cheery colors, mostly pastel greens, yellows and blues. The wallpaper was flowery, and scented candles burned on the coffee table. There were half a dozen porcelain plates hung above the oven, depicting beautiful landscapes. However, the main attraction was behind the house, and a surprisingly large garden. Anko introduced them to their first three poisons.

The first poison was that of the yew shrub, the seed of which, she claimed to have enough poison to stop a horses heart. The second was strychnine, from the seed of the orange fruit of the strychnine, causing intense pain, instantaneous rigor mortise, convulsions and asphyxiation in the space of just a very few short minute, she said with a deaths head grin. Finally, was cyanide, traces of which were found in the almond nut.

Tenten and Hinata left Anko's house that day with a much better appreciation of the food that they ate. They also learned the antidotes for all three poisons, and carried a small vial of each in their emergency first aid packs, as Anko was absolute rubbish with medical jutsu.


	5. Training

**Chapter Five: Training**

The trio quickly became the most hated genin squad in the entire village. Anko told them that practicing their skills privately wasn't enough; they had to learn how to apply them in live combat. Of course, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon, unless Iwa suddenly decided to launch a surprise attack on the village, so they did the next best thing. They practiced on the other genin squads.

Unfortunately for Team Seven, they were the target for their "practice" more often than not.

So this particular morning found the three members of Team Nine crouched in the trees studying the three genin of Team Seven. Tenten, Naruto and Hinata wore a mic attached to a band on their throat, with a cord running up to the ear bud. Naruto pressed a finger to his mic and made a humming noise into it. There was one thing that differentiated these mics from most others. They were special issue mics given to ANBU and shinobi sent on high priority stealth missions. As such, the mic was much more sensitive, and could pick up a greater range of sound than normal mics.

"'Deadeye', 'Oracle', 'Trickster' singing, 'Librarian' scoped?."

"'Trickster, 'Deadeye' singing, absent 'Librarian'."

"'Oracle' singing, absent 'Librarian' doubled."

"'Deadeye', 'Oracle', acknowledged." At this point, they shifted over to normal speech, as their private code was good for relaying orders and such, but it did not carry normal communication well. "I know that ' Librarian' is well known for his tardiness, but being three hours late to train his team is something else."

For this mission, they were using a language that Naruto had been developing, with the assistance from his two teammates and Anko. It was rather rudimentary, and really wasn't that difficult to decode if one knew how it worked. There were no set grammar, which was simultaneously its greatest strength and weakness. There was no encryption, in the classic sense of the word. The code was idiomatic, using otherwise innocuous phrases, head words and symbols to express intent. Its strength was in the versatility of the code, for if you knew how it worked, there was nothing that wasn't translatable.

On the other hand, while it could be broken, if someone else tried to use it and impersonate one of the members of Team Nine, it would be plenty obvious, because each person phrased their communication in a unique and uncopyable way, because each person would phrase the same idea in a different way.

The genin element of Team Nine had been waiting for the tardy jounin for over an hour now, and they were all starting to get annoyed. Anko had given them their first "mission" and none of them wanted to fail it. Their mission had two objectives. Completion of either objective would constitute a successful completion. The first objective was to unmask the Hatake prodigy, codenamed 'Librarian', and get a picture of his face. Hinata, codenamed 'Oracle', had a small spycam for this purpose. The second objective was to steal the orange book that Kakashi always had his nose buried in. Naruto, designated 'Trickster' was going to take Kakashi on and Tenten, using the handle 'Deadeye', was to run interference with Team Seven with Hinata.

Hinata had suggested earlier that they could perhaps enlist the help of Kakashi's students in getting revenge on the cyclopean ninja, but Naruto had shot that idea down immediately, much to Hinata's shame. Naruto absolutely refused to work with the Uchiha heir. So instead, Naruto entertained himself with a game of flip. An hour later, their target entered the clearing. Naruto grinned with malicious glee. He had originally planned to just disable the man and complete the mission, but he was really annoyed now, and was going to make the bastard suffer.

Naruto signaled his two cohorts to ready themselves, and then gave the signal to attack. He waited a moment for Tenten to unseal one of her ranged scrolls, and leaped at the masked jounin before any of the targets could figure out what was going on. Tenten and Hinata followed quickly, facing Sakura, Kiba and Sasuke.

Sakura and Kiba looked extremely surprised at the intruders, and Sasuke and Kakashi just looked bored. In fact, Kakashi didn't even look up from his book.

"What do you three losers want," Sasuke asked, looking annoyed at the intrusion.

Tenten bristled at the boy's tone, giving them the same kind of attention as one would a particularly annoying gnat. "We are here on a mission from our sensei, and you three are not allowed to interfere." It had been agreed beforehand that Naruto would take Kakashi himself, while the two kunoichi would handle his subordinates. Now, however, Tenten really wanted to take out Sasuke. She leaned over and whispered to Hinata, "Can you handle Sakura and Kiba yourself if I take the Uchiha asshole?"

Not taking her eyes off her assigned targets she nodded. Grinning Tenten took two kunai and launched herself at Sasuke. She soon realized why he had been labeled the rookie of the year. His taijutsu was superb, able to keep up with her with only a little effort, much to her ire. But then again, her only objective here was to keep him from interfering in Naruto and Kakashi's fight. Tenten winced when Sakura shrieked at her for daring to attack her precious Sasuke-kun.

Hinata had activated her Byakugan and set herself into a defensive Jyuuken stance, only to be almost completely ignored. "H-hey, aren't you t-two going to attack me?" she asked the two teammates.

"Nah," Kiba replied. "Fighting you right now would be troublesome. Besides, Kakashi-sensei deserves to be beaten up a little, seeing as how he is a perennially late pervert." Looking at Sakura, he shrugged.

"Hey, I got no beef with you." The word were directed calmly enough at Hinata while glaring kunai at Tenten.

"But my team mate is attacking your sensei..." Hinata said.

Sakura snorted. "After all the shit we have to put up with, he deserves whatever he has coming." Having said her piece, Sakura turned completely away from Hinata to focus on Tenten and Sasuke.

Hinata shifted her gaze from a reclining Kiba to a tensing Sakura. Kiba didn't look like he was going to interfere with either fight at the moment, so Hinata turned to focus her attention on the bubblegum haired girl. Sure enough, Hinata was forced to intercept a brace of shuriken flung Tenten's way once the brunette kunoichi started to outfight Sasuke. Now, Hinata knew that she was far from the best of kunoichi, hovering around the middle bottom, but she was surprised at the ease of which she was able to fend of the increasingly irritated fangirl. Sakura was ranked among the top of their class in terms of academics but only average in terms of physicality.

Hinata found it almost unsettlingly easy to keep their fight at a stalemate, her sub par Jyuuken negating Sakura's textbook perfect taijutsu and weapon skills. The longer they fought, the more certain she became that Sakura was not fighting at her true potential. So, determined to get Sakura to fight for real, Hinata upped the ante, increasing the speed of her strikes.

Sakura drew a trio of shuriken from her pouch and gripped them between her knuckles before flinging them at the object preventing her from helping Sasuke-kun. Hinata nimbly danced out of the projectiles path before intercepting a right hook with her left palm before closing her fist and whirling Sakura around, twisting her arm behind her. Hinata then tapped a handful of the other girl's tenketsu and dropping her, Sakura's body locked up. Her face turned an impressive shade of red while alternating between berating Kiba from not helping her and demanding that Hinata release her. Kiba just chuckled in amusement and Hinata ignored her, blush rising.

Naruto on the other hand, had his hands full. He had forced Kakashi to put away his book, but he was being fended off easily. He really didn't want to have to use his bastardized taijutsu on the man, as he wanted to keep his knowledge of it as secret as he could, and use it as an ace, but if he didn't there was no way he would be able to complete his mission.

Kakashi sighed. He figured that the trio had been sent by Anko to harass him, but couldn't she send someone that would be a challenge to him. However, just as the thought that (and looking away from Naruto for a split second,) he felt a tug at his kunai pouch here he had stored the precious and whirled around. There was Naruto, clutching his kunai pouch and waving the precious in the other hand. Kakashi looked behind him and saw a second Naruto, who exploded in a puff of smoke. He blinked in surprise, which from anyone other than Hatake Kakashi equated one's jaw hanging open. Who would have guessed that the dobe of the Academy knew Shadow Clone Technique, when he couldn't even perform a standard dust clone?

Before he could do anything, Naruto shouted that he had completed the mission and ran off, soon followed by Hinata and Tenten. Kakashi quickly rounded on the two boys and one girl, to find two of them laying down apparently cloud watching, and the third writhing upside down, bound head to foot in ninja wire, suspended from a tree branch. Damn, who would have figured that Anko was such a good teacher? There was more to Naruto and his team than met the eye apparently.

OoOoO

Over the last two years, Naruto's apprenticeship with the Hokage had expanded his duties greatly. Now, he was trusted with approving missions, delivering messages, and running other errands for the Hokage, many of which were often chunin-level duties. Sarutobi often thought that taking Naruto on to groom him as the next Hokage was probably one of the best decisions that he had ever made, if only for the fact that paperwork that used to take him all day to work through was often completed in less than a third of that time. Naruto was an extremely efficient secretary, much better than the chunin sitting at the desk outside the office. Naruto had an absolutely mind boggling memory for the most minor of details, often being able to recall D-rank mission details, such as the chore assigned and the team assigned to it, client and speed of completion weeks afterward. He could usually remember B- and A-rank mission details for months because for one, they were rarer and two, they often dealt with foreign affairs and village security, and therefor that much more memorable.

Hiruzen couldn't remember the last time his office had been so neat. Not to say that it was messy, but with Naruto managing the office every paper was in its spot, able to be withdrawn and perused at a moment's notice. His chunin secretary, which was rotated every week, all began to love Naruto. In fact, where before managing the Hokage's office had been the mission one earned when a person had ticked off one of the Mission Hall personnel it had now become regarded as a paid vacation, almost.

Naruto had always professed his dream to become Hokage, but was learning exactly how dreary the job could really be. He had always imagined the Hokage lounging around his office all day, smoking his pipe or running super-secret S-rank missions on a daily basis. Now he knew better. In the two years that he had become the Hokage's assistant, the closest thing to actual combat he had seen was the ambassador from Cloud that had visited eight months ago. Although, to tell the truth, negotiations had been really thick and by and large over his head, watching the ambassador's guards had been an interesting exercise.

Sarutobi had told Naruto that his job during the meeting was to watch the Cloud-nin and then tell him what he thought about them. So Naruto had sat on the right side of the table, staring across the highly polished maple to the jounin seated across from him. The man had been in his early thirties, a full head of hair, hitai-aite across his forehead, flack jacket cinched with a sash over the waist, a scroll pouch over his left breast. Overall, he had been wholly unremarkable. The man had been annoyingly still throughout the negotiations, not even a flicker of an eyelid to betray his thoughts.

Afterwards when the Hokage was debriefing him, he asked what Naruto thought about the Cloud escort. Naruto told him how he had barely batted an eye the entire time and how plain he seemed. The Hokage congratulated him on that observation. Guards, Sarutobi said, were supposed to be ordinary, so that they could easily blend into the local population in the case that an infiltration was necessitated. Sarutobi sent him home early that day as a reward for doing so well during the negotiations.

OoOoO

Tenten was tired. No, scratch that, she was freaking exhausted. She was in her room, splayed across her bed. It had always been her dream, ever since she had entered the Academy, to prove that kunoichi could serve just as ably as ninja as male shinobi. But to be honest, she hadn't ever expected it to be this hard. They were training ten hour days, from ten am to eight pm, with a short half hour break in the early afternoon for lunch.

Thinking over her team, she concluded that they had to be some of the strangest people she had ever met. Anko was completely unpredictable, both in her moods, and in her training methods. She had thought that the woman could possibly have some sort of disorder, like bipolarism, but now she was certain of it. Tenten could never predict what would set the purple haired woman off, as sometimes something that she had shrugged off the previous day would make her set them to the most grueling training exercises she could think up.

Hinata was something of a surprise. Everyone knew of the Hyuuga's legendary taijutsu style, the Jyuuken. She had also heard of Hinata's reputation among her clan as a near complete failure as a kunoichi. Hinata wasn't a bad ninja, by any means, but her father seemed to have set extraordinarily high expectations from a young age. Her repeated inability to match those goals, set mostly by generations of Hyuuga prodigies, had led her father to label her as a failure had turned her into a self-fulfilling prophecy, her failures sapping her confidence, which in turn made her fail again.

She had known the girl slightly during the Academy, and she had always been a shy introverted girl, even more so in Naruto's presence. What surprised Tenten the most was that she found herself genuinely befriending the Hyuuga heiress. Tenten didn't really have many friends, as she wasn't a fan girl, so she didn't fit in with that clique. She was only a genin, so she didn't know any of the older kunoichi, and she trained harder than probably any kunoichi her age, so that alienated her from just about all the rest. She considered herself to be a serious ninja, and considered such frivolous things as her figure as virtually unimportant. She figured if she trained hard enough, her body would take care of itself, and that differentiated her from all the girls in her class, no matter what clique it seemed. Hinata seemed to understand that, to a degree, although her social rank probably had something to do with that. Hinata had no fear remaining single her whole life, because her status as clan heiress demanded that she marry one day.

So they hung out in their free time, having lunch together on the weekends, and having friendly spars when they got bored. In this way Tenten was able to help her friend's confidence, which was really the only thing holding her back as a ninja, Tenten thought. Hinata would thrash her mercilessly when they sparred, her natural limberness and skill with the Jyuuken almost impossible to overcome for the weapons mistress. When she got a dirt nap for the fifth time in an hour during their first spar, she vowed to get Anko to work on her taijutsu outside of the official team practices. While she specialized in long-range combat, she recognized the need to hone her melee work, in the all-too-likely eventuality that she would have to go toe-to-toe with an opponent where her ranged weapons would be rendered ineffective. Hinata's crush on the blond orphan was also something of a legend among the students of the Academy, the Hyuuga princess that had fallen for the plebeian pariah.

That thought inevitably lead her to think of her other teammate. Naruto hadn't earned his moniker as the village's number one most surprising ninja for nothing. Almost overnight, his pranks had ceased, and he had thrown himself into his training with almost disturbing fervor. She knew for a fact that Anko got him up several hours earlier than herself or Hinata, to train him, and occasionally kept him after. One morning about a month and a half after graduation, she had gotten up with Hinata and gone to the training field two hours earlier than normal, to exactly what kind of remedial training he was receiving. Remembering their first spar with their jounin-sensei, she concluded with was probably taijutsu training.

The sight that greeted their peeping eyes was not one that they had expected. A shirtless Naruto and his mother was there, doing what looked like some heavy calisthenics. Naruto was upside down on his hands, fingers buried in the packed dirt to the second knuckle, feet in the air on which Anko balanced, long pants cinched closed by his greaves. As they watched, Naruto bent his arms, lowering his head to the ground, forehead brushing the sparse grass before straightening. Simultaneously, Tenten and Hinata sprouted tiny nosebleeds. The Naruto in front of them was looking _extremely _good. The sharply sculpted muscles on his naked torso stood out in sharp relief, contours traced by the many beads of sweat dripping off him. There didn't appear to be an ounce of fat on his entire body. His arms looked stone-hard, veins showing on his forearms. His chest was a maiden's dream of manliness. His tanned flesh glistened in the early morning light, nipples hardening in the occasional breeze. The tendons in his neck stood out sharply, and his stomach was washboard flat, a happy trail going down the middle of his six-pack. Hinata stealthily activated her Byakugan and focused on the grey bands at Naruto's wrists and ankles. She put a hand over her mouth in shock. Tenten looked at her teammate.

"Tenten-san, those bands he has on his wrists and ankles are chakra weights." Tenten looked surprised. There weren't many who used chakra weights. The only other people who she could think of that used chakra weights were Maito Gai and his miniaturized clone, Rock Lee. Basically, chakra weights were weights inscribed with seal that, when a certain amount of chakra was channeled into them, increased in weight without increasing in size, the seal changing to reflect how heavy they were at any given moment. The main reason why they were not used much was because they were only used in increments over fifty pounds, and most shinobi who trained with weights didn't need to go over that.

"How heavy are they?"

"A hundred pounds each." This time Tenten's eyes grew as big as saucers. But before she could absorb that fact, they heard him grunt, sounding like 'two hundred' as he straightened his arms again. Anko hopped off his feet and Naruto smoothly bent his legs backwards over his head, transferring his weight from his hand to his feet. Their nosebleeds thickened slightly at this display of virile agility. It was then that they realized that he had done two hundred vertical push ups with four hundred pounds of weights on, not including his mom sitting on his feet, which had to have added a good bit of difficulty balancing her, and neither saw him sway once. Clearly, there was a discrepancy between his performance in the Academy, and his true abilities.

She had been correct in her assumption, but it had not been the standard taijutsu that all nin were taught, before selecting a more specialized branch. This particular brand of taijutsu was all about speed it seemed. Once Naruto finished with his calisthenics, he created a large group of clones and set them to fighting each other. Tenten winced several times as none of the clones held back at all. Whatever style they were using, it was brutal, with clones often punching clear through one another before they died.

The real Naruto didn't sit back and watch though. Settling into an aggressive stance, he stood with his chest to them, legs spread apart and in line with his body, knees bent. His hands were curled into tight fists, the tendons in his wrist standing out strongly. Both his arms were almost at full extension while his left out from his body, his right across his body. Anko, on the other hand, seemed completely at ease. Neither son or mother moved for almost a minute. The more time that passed without Anko attacking, the more tense and more jittery he seemed to grow. Suddenly Naruto seemed to, well, explode seemed to be the best adjective that Tenten or Hinata could think of.

Naruto disappeared in a flurry of punches and kicks, barely seeming to brush the ground as he assaulted Anko. Anko, for her part gave as good as she got, albeit with yet another taijutsu style. This particular brand of taijutsu was all flowing motion. It was vaguely reminiscent of the Jyuuken that she had seen Hinata use, with much of the same boneless grace that was the Jyuuken's trademark. Naruto's style seemed to rely on bone-crushing punches and kicks, Anko's seemed based on evasion and knife-hand thrusts to his joints, groin (which caused Tenten and Hinata to wince in pity,) head and short ribs.

After observing him train for an hour with their sadistic sensei, she was starting to see a bit of what Hinata saw in him. Anko beat him mercilessly during their sparring session, but Naruto never stayed down for longer than a minute. He was limping quite badly and clearly winded when the pair left, quite battered, probably get breakfast, but when he arrived at the training field with their sensei, he didn't show a hint of exhaustion and none of the limp from earlier.

That was another thing that puzzled her. Where the hell did he get his retardedly huge stamina and chakra pools from? She knew of some real stamina freaks, namely Maito Guy and his protégé, Rock Lee, the Green Beasts of Konoha, who were widely regarded as the best taijutsu practitioners in Konoha, Gai having raised his school of taijutsu to an art, but he got most of that from training, if rumors of his training regimen were to believed. While she would agree that Naruto was training a good bit harder than herself, what she saw of his extra training couldn't possibly account for how he had gotten so strong practically overnight.

She recalled the conversation she had with Hinata earlier in the day. She and Hinata had been taking a breather from one of their sparring sessions while Anko berated Naruto on something or other. "Hey Hinata-san, I have something to confide." The panda-haired girl had leaned in close, whispering. "I think that Anko is teaching Naruto-san something she isn't teaching us."

Hinata had looked back with disbelief. "I don't think Anko-sensei would play favorites Tenten-san." Hinata had been drilled so thoroughly in correct protocol and etiquette that she couldn't help but to add the -sensei suffix in private. "She isn't that kind of person."

"I'm not so sure. Remember when we spied of Naruto and Anko's private training? Well I didn't recognize whatever taijutsu style they were practicing so I went to the Shinobi Archives to see what it was, but the closest thing I could find on Naruto's style was the Strong Fist but not quite. The closest thing I could find on Anko's style was the Jyuuken." Tenten held up a hand to forestall Hinata's objections. "I'm not saying that I think that Anko has somehow learned your family's taijutsu, I'm just saying that they look a lot alike."

Hinata sat there looking thoughtful for a minute before speaking. "You may be right Tenten-san. But I don't think we should be jumping to conclusions."

"Regardless, I am going to confront Anko about it."

"Um... I don't really think that that would be a good idea. Anko-sensei has many years experience as a ninja, so if there is something that she is teaching Naruto-kun that she is not teaching us, there is probably a very good reason for it."

"Whatever the reason is, I want to know it. I want to become a strong shinobi, and I can't do that if my sensei isn't teaching me everything she knows. I had kinda expected something like this of one of the male jounin-sensei, but Anko is a woman also."

So when Anko dismissed them for the evening, Tenten and Hinata waited until Naruto had bid them goodbye before approaching her jounin-sensei. "Anko, may I talk to you for a minute please?"

Anko looked at the shorter kunoichi and frowned. "Sure, but only for a minute. I got things to do."

Steeling her courage, she squared her shoulders and blurted her question out. "Anko, what are you teaching Naruto-san that you are not teaching Hinata-san and me?"

Anko looked at her in surprise. "What makes you think that I am teaching Naruto-kun something that I am not teaching you?"

"We spied on one of your and Naruto-san's early morning sparring sessions a yesterday. We saw you both using a completely foreign taijutsu style, one that I had never seen or read about."

"And do you feel the same Hinata-chan?"

"I-i trust in your judgment A-anko," she replied, stuttering over her name under Anko's fierce gaze. "But I am a bit curious as to what N-naruto-kun is learning." Hinata's head was bowed, bangs obscuring her eyes, fingers poking together.

Looking at the two determined kunoichi, she sighed. "Well, I had hoped to keep it secret for a bit longer." Focusing her gaze and a tiny bit of killing intent, she continued. "I will show you what Naruto-kun is learning as long as you don't mind getting thrown around."

Shocked at the apparent seriousness of whatever she was teaching him, both kunoichi pledged their silence. Tenten couldn't say why, but the thought of Naruto being hurt in anyway because of her actions caused a totally unreasonable sense of sadness.

Lightening her expression and withdrawing her killing intent, she grinned. "I will have him show you tomorrow." She turned away, throwing them a wink. "Just don't say I didn't warn you." And with that note, Anko disappeared into the night. Tenten looked to Hinata with a confounded expression. Hinata returned her gaze, similarly disturbed. What kind of jutsu had Naruto been learning, to have their sensei warn them off in such a way?

Tenten turned up at training ground nineteen at precisely ten o'clock the next morning, barely able to restrain her excitement. For her, there was nothing better than learning a new technique or jutsu. Hinata showed up a minute or two after her, and then everything was ready. Tenten looked at Naruto, trying to discern exactly what kind of taijutsu technique he had learned. Anko greeted the trio with a friendly wave. "Are you ready to see what exactly Naruto has been learning this past month and a half?"

Tenten grinned, Hinata blushed, and Naruto was confused. "Mom, I thought you said that no one was to know about my private training?"

"Well, it seems that your two teammates have noticed all the time I have been giving you, and want to see exactly what I have been teaching you."

Grinning, he turned to Tenten and Hinata. "To tell the truth, I have wanted to try this out on someone other than Mom for ages now."

Moving to the center of the clearing, she beckoned all three to come. "Alright you two," she said, pointing at Hinata and Tenten, "you are allowed to use everything to try to hit him, barring lethal force. Everything is in, all taijutsu, ninjutsu and weapons. My bet is that neither of you will be able to touch him though."

Looking to Anko, Hinata said "w-we are fighting him two on o-one? That doesn't s-seem entirely fair to h-him, Anko."

"Oh, it's not him that I am worried about. Just do it. You will see what I mean soon enough."

Shrugging, Tenten and Hinata settled into their respective taijutsu stances, and separated, flanking the blond. When Naruto had settled into a very tight stance, feet apart, arms poised in a vaguely viperish fashion, Tenten went for the first blow. Naruto blocked her attack with one of her own, causing her almost yelp as he almost broke her hand. She released her fist into a knife hand and swung it out in a horizontal chop. Naruto blocked that one too with his forearm. He ducked a Jyuuken palm strike from Hinata behind him. Tenten stepped in close, bringing her fist up near her face, dropping down elbow first to make a quick KO. Instead of Tenten's elbow meeting Naruto's head though, she stumbled as it swept though thin air, and Naruto popped up behind her, having turned his duck into a forward roll between her legs. Tenten turned around and the two kunoichi leaped forward, trying to overwhelm him with the ferocity of their attacks.

Naruto nodded and straightened, bringing his hands up into fists. Almost before either girl knew what was happening, Naruto was in front of them. He halted for a quarter or a second, and then the air was blasted out of Tenten's lungs as Naruto punched her in the solar plexus, flipping her over and leaving her in a crumpled heap behind him. Hinata backpedaled frantically, trying to gain some space so she could set herself into a defensive Jyuuken stance, and strike back. Unfortunately, Naruto didn't seem to want to oblige her, pursuing her relentlessly. The few Jyuuken strikes she did manage to get in he warded away, and then vanished, to reappear a second later two or three feet away.

By now Tenten had recovered, and was angry, drawing a kunai in each hand. She was determined to pay him back for that punch. She was not some weak and girly kunoichi to be knocked out and then forgotten.

But whatever she tried, he either blocked, parried or dodged. In short, whatever style he had been taught, it was absolutely devastating, neatly disposing of both girls inside a minute. Tenten watched in total disbelief as he flowed out of the way of two thrusts of her kunai, and simply plucked them from her grip. He then whirled around and she could feel the razor edges resting against her throat. As soon as the spar was over, Naruto was all over the both of them, apologizing profusely, making sure he hadn't done any lasting harm. From any other male, she was sure that it would have been chauvinistic, but from him it was sweet.

After he had assured himself he hadn't killed them, he sat down between them, content to let Anko explain her style. She could understand why Anko had sworn them to silence before showing them what she was teaching Naruto. It turned out that it was less Anko teaching him anything and more Naruto teaching himself. "I had once tried to teach him my fighting style, but he simply is not built for the acrobatics that are essential for my style. He has been trying to invent his how own fighting style in private."

That certainly explained a lot to Tenten. She had been wondering in the back of her mind what was with Naruto seeming obsession with his physical conditioning.

After that short demonstration, Anko set Naruto to some more advanced chakra control exercises that the two kunoichi had already mastered. Taking them to the other side of the training field. She sat them down in the dirt and addressed them. "Alright, I bet you want to know why I seem to have been showing some favoritism toward Naruto in regards to helping him with his taijutsu in secret. The first reason is one that I cannot divulge at the moment, because of a law that the Sandaime has put in effect regarding a burden that Naruto was saddled with at birth. If you want to know what it is, I suggest that you try to befriend him, and if he does tell you, please remember that the is a difference between the prisoner and the prison." Tenten and Hinata shared a confused look, wondering at the cryptic warning their sensei had just given them.

"The second reason has a lot to do with the first. You two know of his dream correct?" Tenten and Hinata nodded silently. "Well, as you know, Naruto is not well liked among the civilian and shinobi populations. To become Hokage, he needs to be prepared, and that means giving him special training. But I will be teaching you something slightly different." Tenten looked mollified at that last part, as she had been getting irritated that Naruto would get specialized treatment just because he wanted to become Hokage. Hearing that she and Hinata would be getting special training also negated that jealousy.

"Alright. Well, the taijutsu style that you will be learning doesn't have a name per se, but it was developed for kunoichi. As a kunoichi, you will never be able to develop the physical strength nor the same size chakra pools that you male counterparts will. That does not mean that you cannot be as good or better than a male shinobi, it just means that you have to be smarter about it. As a kunoichi you are naturally more flexible than most shinobi. This taijutsu style takes advantage of that, turning what could be a weakness into a strength." Stepping back, she motioned for them to get up.

"This taijutsu is similar to aikido in many ways, and even has elements of the Jyuuken incorporated in it. Instead of overcoming your opponent with brute force, you defeat him by turning his own strength against him. Many of the kata are reactive, instead of proactive, and focus on conserving energy by getting the maximum effect with the minimum effort. So, attack me."

Pausing a moment, Tenten and Hinata separated and attacked Anko from opposite sides. Neither kunoichi could land a single blow on the elder woman. Anko did not attack at all, instead using their own attacks to tangle themselves up, or redirecting an attack away from her and towards the other kunoichi.

Tenten came in with a left hook, while Hinata dropped to the ground and tried a foot sweep. Anko grabbed Tenten's outstretched fist and deflected it across her body, taking hold of her arm at the same time and twirling them around so that Hinata's foot sweep toppled her partner instead of her sensei. Tenten performed a kip up, and settled back into a defensive stance. Hinata did the same, and the two genin studied their teacher for a moment, before having a whispered debate. A few seconds later, they stopped whispering, having arrived at a battle plan. This time Hinata charged, directing several Jyuuken palm strikes at Anko's body core. Tenten circled around and waited for the right moment to attack. A minute later Tenten attacked with an aerial roundhouse kick as Hinata drew Anko's guard low. However, Anko saw through the ploy and turned, grabbed Tenten by the leg, used her momentum to shift into a spin, and slammed Tenten down hard on Hinata. Anko stepped back and let the stunned and badly winded kunoichi recover.

Once Tenten and Hinata regained their feet, Anko grinned. "Ready to learn?" Tenten scowled at her teacher, but nodded, along with Hinata. Anko rubbed her hands together gleefully. "Alright, the first thing to know is base, angle, and leverage. Those three things are the basis for this entire style." Anko motioned for Tenten to come forward. "Punch at me slowly." Tenten did. Anko spread her feet apart. "The first element, base. You anchor yourself to the ground, giving yourself a large platform to move in." Anko gripped Tenten's arm and twisted it into an odd angle. "Second element, angle. You twist like so," she said demonstrating it again slowly, "so that your opponent cannot retaliate, and setting up for the third step, leverage. Combining the first two elements correctly gives you the leverage to do _this." S_he finished with an emphasis, unbending her and Tenten's arm in a way so that Tenten went flipping around her arm, landing hard on the ground, driving the breath from her lungs again. "See? Easy as pie."

Finally, after two months of almost nonstop training, Anko judged them ready for their first mission.

OoOoO


	6. The First Mission

**Chapter Six: The First Mission**

The day after Anko said that they were ready for their first mission, Team Anko showed up at the Mission Hall to pick up the assignment. The Academy was on break, so it fell to Iruka to deal with Anko.

"Well, hello Naruto, Tenten-san, Hinata-san, Anko-san"

"Hey Iruka-san, what mission have you got for us today?"

"Well, let me see. Hmm... you guys have been a team for two months, and you haven't done a single mission?"

"We have been busy with other stuff," Anko replied.

"Well here you go then," handing her a scroll with a large 'D' printed on it.

"Nuh uh. Give me one of those," Anko said, pointing at the pile of C-rank missions. Truthfully, she would have asked for a B-rank, but the tray for those was empty, and while she believed in her team, she knew they weren't ready for an A-rank mission yet. "The Hokage said I could pick and choose my missions. I have better things to do than do someone else's chores all day long." While that was true, the main reason she wanted a C-rank mission was to have her genin make their first kills. The first kill for a shinobi was almost always the hardest, so she figured that it would be best to get it out of the way on an easy mission where all they would be facing are some bandits at most.

"But you guys haven't done a single mission, and you want a C rank already, that's preposterous!"

One of the other chunin assigning missions leaned over. "Just give them a C rank, Iruka. If she gets her genin killed, it's on her head."

It was then that the other chunin noticed the not-so-nice smile that Tenten, Hinata and Naruto had come to associate with her getting impatient. An unhappy Anko was generally detrimental to anyone's health that was within reach. Iruka noticed this and capitulated.

Iruka eyed the stack of C-rank mission scrolls. Looking several over, he chose one near the top. "All right, then, here you go." Iruka held out the scroll, but didn't release it when Anko took a hold of it. "If Naruto doesn't come back in perfect health, though Anko-san, I promise there will be hell to pay."

"Sounds like fun. I might have to beat on the brat a bit just to get you to fight me."

"So who is the client?" Naruto asked, hoping to steer this conversation to safer and healthier grounds.

"I am," came the voice from the doorway. Team Anko turned to face the speaker. He was a medium tall man, with fine cheekbones and soft hands. The slicked back hair and slightly condescending look in his eye identified the man as a courier, most likely a failed genin. The message bag at his side helped too. His eyes narrowed when he saw the four people. "Hey, what is the Ky-urk!" whatever the man was going to say was interrupted by Anko and Naruto. Anko had tangled her fingers in the man's greased hair with a kunai to his throat, while Naruto, not quite having the reach to hit his face sank his fist in the man's soft abdomen.

"Finish that sentence and you die," Naruto growled.

"And if my son can't finish the deed, be assured I will. Those two girls are his friends and they don't know what we three do. I would like to keep it that way? Capiche?" Unable to breathe the man nodded frantically.

Meanwhile Tenten and Hinata were completely bewildered. What was the man going to say that would have set off the mother and son duo like that? Judging from the hardened expressions on the other occupants of the Mission Hall, they knew what the man was going to say.

"Anyways," Iruka continued, "this man is a courier with an invitation to Kirigakure to join in the upcoming Chunin Exams. Your four will escort him to Kirigakure, wait for a response from the Mizukage and return. As the information is unclassified and not sensitive in any way, there is no resistance anticipated. That said, be on your guard anyway. Anything can happen after all. That is all."

Team Anko saluted and exited the room. As Naruto passed the courier in the doorway, he gripped the man's shirt, hauling him down so he could whisper in his ear. "Spill my secret to my friends over there, and I will happily carry out your punishment on the spot." The man was very pale-faced and looking rather ill, so he just nodded his assent.

Anko was standing just outside the doors to the Hokage Tower when her three students exited the building. "Alright you three. This is your first mission outside of the village, so be sure to pack everything you will need for the next month or so. That means clothes, hygiene products, tools, the works. I don't think I have to tell you two to leave any vanity items here." Tenten gave Anko a look that said where she could put that. "If you forget something here, we ain't turning around to come get it. Meet up at the east gate in an hour. Anyone who is late will get an extra special private training session with me."

As one, the three genin shuddered. No one wanted to be left to Anko's nonexistent mercies when it came to training. Nodding to her, the three vanished in a puff of dirt, leaping to the rooftops to make better time. Naruto was practically tripping over himself in his haste to get home in order to pack. He hurriedly unlocked the door and began throwing everything he could think of into his over sized backpack. Since he was physically the strongest member of the team, Anko had given him the responsibility of carrying most of the teams equipment on a mission. That included tents, cooking supplies and medical gear, along with any personal items. Finishing up, he locked the door from the inside and leaped out the window, heading towards the meeting spot.

OoOoO

Hinata rushed home, leaping across the reinforced rooftops of the town in order to get to the Hyuuga compound quicker. She knew that her father would want to speak to her before she left, so she would have to pack as fast as she could if she were to be at the gate on time. When she arrived, she hurriedly removed her footwear, rushing through the halls to her room, barely stopping to exchange pleasantries with those she passed like she normally would. Grabbing a female branch house member, she raced around her room, throwing items that she would need into the middle of the room, letting the servant pack her bag. Thanking the woman profusely, she approached her father's study at a brisk pace. It would not do to appear red cheeked and blowing in her father's presence after all. Pausing a moment to compose herself, she knocked on the door.

"Enter."

Hinata entered, kneeling in front of her fathers desk. Looking up in surprise, Hiashi said, "I was unaware that you had a mission today, daughter."

"I'm sorry for not informing you sooner Father, but this was a last minute decision."

"I see that you are leaving the village," Hiashi responded, gesturing to her pack.

"Hai, Father. My team has a C-rank mission to escort a courier to Kirigakure."

"I see. Do you know how long you will be gone?"

"No, Father, but it shouldn't be more than three or four weeks, from what I understand. I have made arrangements for Hanabi-chan to manage the ledger and the house while I am gone, under the supervision of Aoi-san."

"Alright. You may leave me then."

"Hai, Father."

OoOoO

Tenten was able to make it home record time, due to traveling across the roofs of the town instead of walking on the streets like she normally did. The door rang as she opened it. Her mother was leaning on the counter by the cash register, reading a magazine.

"Hello Tenten-chan. What are you doing here?"

"I have a mission Mom. We have a C-rank escort mission to Water Country today. I gotta hurry to pack, because Anko-sensei wants us down at the east gate in," she paused to check the clock, "forty-five minutes."

"Well, don't let me keep you then. Be sure to speak to your father before you leave though."

"Sure thing Mom," came Tenten's fading voice from the stairwell. Tenten was finished packing fairly quickly, already having most of her ninja equipment organized and ready to be packed at a moments notice. She tucked a dozen hand sized sealing scrolls in specially designed pockets in her long pants and shirt. When she did that, she ran over a mental list and concluded that she had everything that she needed. Hefting her pack on her shoulders, she descended the stairs and went into the back where her father was working at the forge.

"Hey Dad."

"Tenten-chan, what are you doing here? Do you have a mission?" He asked seeing the pack on her back, and all the scrolls tucked into pockets on her clothes.

"Yeah, we have our first C-rank mission today. We're escorting a courier to Kiri." Kouseki wiped his forehead of sweat and put down the hammer and piece of steel he was working on.

"How long are you going to be gone do you think?"

"I don't really know. A month or so. Shouldn't be much longer than that." Without warning, Kouseki strode up to his daughter and seized her in a bear hug.

"Be safe Tenten-chan. I know that you trust your teammates, but just try to be careful anyways." Kouseki pushed Tenten back, holding onto her shoulders before addressing her again. "When you first said that you wanted to be a ninja like your grandfather, your mother and I thought that it was just a phase, like many of the other civilian children. But as you got older and showed no signs of dropping out, it looked like you were serious about being a ninja. Your mother and I were extremely proud of you when you graduated, even if I was not best pleased by your team, and we have been fearing this day since then." Releasing her he turned her around. "Now get going. You wouldn't want to be late for your first mission."

"Thanks Father," Tenten said over her shoulder. "I love you."

OoOoO

Naruto was the last one to arrive at the east gate. He had a large backpack on and a second one in his arms. Grabbing one of the straps on the second backpack, he slung it at Anko. "Here ya go Mom. I got everything, including the shoe box. Although I had to go digging through your closet to find enough clean clothes." He shuddered. "You mind putting your.. ah... _private _wear somewhere other than the floor though?"

"What, ladies underwear make you uncomfortable Naruto-chan?"

"It's not the underwear that bothers me Mom, its that it is yours is what is wrong. I didn't want to have my first memories of lingerie to be looking at my moms. You have ruined it for me for all time now."

"What, you calling my underwear ugly brat?" She said this as she put Naruto into a submission hold, which he wriggled out of, to wrap himself around her legs in an interesting fashion. Well what would have been an interesting fashion had they not been related.

Tenten rolled her eyes, the courier scowled at the pair and Hinata cleared her throat. "Um, Anko, Naruto-kun, shouldn't we be going now?"

The two stopped wresting in the dirt for a minute to glare at the black haired girl, which got a nervous "eep!" from her. Anko took Naruto's distraction to grip an arm and twist it in a painful fashion so that they were disentangled in a flash and she was sitting on him. Tenten was still ignoring the pair, but Hinata winced. Naruto's arm was bent back to the breaking point and Anko's knee was grinding his head into the dirt. Pressing harder for a second she let him up. "Let that be a lesson in how to speak to a lady son."

Naruto scowled and muttered under his breath.

Several hours later, Naruto was getting very irritated. For one, the damn courier kept glaring at him and his mother muttering under his breath. Two, the courier had graduated the Shinobi Academy, but had retired soon after, so had never acquired the skill to travel in the forest canopy, and as such were forced to walk on the ground like civilians.

Anko had wisely decided to guard the courier herself, with Naruto as point guard because he was the heavy combat specialist, Hinata in the middle so she could get the greatest range with her Byakugan, and Tenten as rear guard, as she was the sniper of the team. Hinata kept an eye on Naruto, as there seemed to be something the the courier knew that upset him. By the way his shoulders were set and the stiffness of his stride, Naruto was still pissed at the man. Not for the first time, Hinata wondered what Naruto didn't want them to know. It had to be something terrible for him to leap silence the man so quickly. Shaking off the thought Hinata returned to her perusal of the surrounding terrain. Naruto would tell them when he was ready. They were team mates after all.

Camp that night was a more than slightly tense affair, with Naruto and Anko at the opposite end of the fire from the courier, Hinata and Tenten in between. Naruto left to gather firewood as the group found a suitable clearing to rest for the night. Tenten and Anko set up camp as Hinata started preparing dinner. The courier sat to one side, far enough out of the way to not interfere with preparations, but close enough that he could be protected.

Everyone was silent during the meal, speaking only to compliment Hinata on the meal. "Man, Hinata-chan, you are a really good cook."

"I agree," Tenten added. "How did you manage to make it taste so good?"

"There are many herbs and spices that can be found in the wild." Hinata ducked her head to hide her blush. "Is it really that good Naruto-kun?"

"Hell yeah. I wish I lived with you so I could eat your food more often." Naruto completely ignored the swooning girl until he heard a telltale _thump. _"What did I do now?" Anko and Tenten rolled their eyes.

"Naruto-san, I swear, sometimes you really are an idiot."

Anko waved at him to settle him down and dragged Hinata off to the side, splashing some water on her face. Hinata sat up quickly looking around rapidly.

"Don't worry Hinata-chan, Naruto isn't here."

"Sorry for fainting," Hinata muttered.

"It's alright. You really have it bad for my son." Hinata said nothing. "It's alright. If it is any consolation, he considers you a good friend Hinata-chan. Naruto is a good ninja, but a complete moron when it comes to social interaction. If you ever want to be anything more than friends with him, you will have to do something yourself. Naruto has had only two friends in his life because of something that he has no control over. So when he does find a new friend he doesn't want to screw it up by advancing it very far quickly. So it is up to you to do something if you want to be something more."

"Anko, why does the entire village hate Naruto-kun?"

Anko did not respond immediately. When Hinata looked in Anko's eyes, she saw anger and sadness warring within. "As much as I would like to tell you Hinata-chan it is not my secret to tell. Perhaps one day, if he ever considers you a good enough friend, he will tell you. But until that day comes, I cannot say anything."

"That's okay. Forgive me for asking."

"There is nothing to apologize for. You did not know."

"Well, I think I had better go back to the fire. Who knows what that asshole courier will start without me there. Come back when you are ready."

When Anko returned to the fire, things were not as she had left them. Naruto was up on the balls of his feet, poised to leap the fire to attack the messenger. The messenger was on his feet as well, with an arrogant sneer on his face. Tenten was to one side, worriedly alternating looking at each man.

Glowering, Anko strode into the light of the fire. "Alright, what is going on here?"

"This fool is about to earn himself an execution Mom." Anko turned to the courier.

"I just happen to think that the young lady here should know what she is consorting with."

"That knowledge is forbidden from being spoken. Break the Sandaime's law and you know the consequences. I don't know who you think you know that will protect you, but out here, you will follow my orders or be arrested and detained. Do I make myself clear?"

"If you harm me I assure you you will regret it. Perhaps I have forgotten to tell you my name. I am Bunmin Sanji. My father is Bunmin Hakuchi, the First Councilman himself. So be careful who you threaten snake whore." Half a second later, he was hoisted off his feet, a grinning Anko holding him up by one hand.

"Call me that again, fucker. It will totally make my day. Pretty please?" Anko's other hand had drawn a kunai from her leg holster, and was playing with it in an eager manner. "My kunai hasn't had any fresh blood in a while, and it is a little cranky." Alarmingly enough, Naruto was still crouched ready to pounce, and fondling his own kunai.

Tenten figured that his she didn't do something to defuse the situation quickly, things would get a lot more complicated. "Anko, let the guy down please. We are supposed to be guarding him, not killing him." Anko held the man up a moment longer before lowering him, when he hunched over and clutched at his throat, hacking and coughing.

"Luckily for you, my student doesn't know everything and is a lot more forgiving than I am." Sending one last disgusted look his way, Anko beckoned to Naruto, Tenten and Hinata who had just come back. She led the trio to her tent leaving the three genin outside for a minute. They her her rustling around inside, presumably looking for something. Anko reemerged a minute later, holding a shoe box, likely the same one Naruto had mentioned earlier that morning.

"Alright, in the two months that I have been your jounin-sensei, we have done a lot of training. But the one thing that I have not taught you is any ninjutsu. We are about to correct that now." Anko opened the box which held three small scrolls, taking them out and handing one to each of them. "Each one of those scrolls has two jutsu on it, according to your affinities. I want each of you to learn the first one first and show me before you go on to the second." Turning to Hinata she spoke to her. "The first jutsu on that scroll is Lightning Release: Lightning Grip. What it does is change your chakra to lightning-natured chakra and charges your hand with electricity. From there you can grab or jab an opponent, paralyzing or killing, depending on how much chakra you use, The second jutsu is Lightning Release: Lightning Blast Technique. Basically, you shoot a lightning bolt out of your hand. You change the number of fingers you point at your target to change the strength. Again, it can just paralyze, or electrocute your target to death.

"Naruto, your first technique is Wind Release: Great Breakthrough. What it does is generate a gale-force wind from your mouth. Depending on the power, it can do anything from deflect thrown weapons, to blow a person away. The second is Wind Release: Pressure Bullet. Basically you perform the hand seals and exhale sharply. The air then condenses and is fired forward. I've seen shinobi fell a tree with the Pressure Bullet before.

"Tenten, your first technique is a defensive one called Earth Release: Earth Style Wall. Perform the seals and slam your hands onto the ground to flip up a wall of dirt to block an attack. It can be pierced by a jutsu of sufficient strength though, so it is not an ultimate defense. The second is Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique. What you do is dive underground and get underneath your target and pull them down into the ground, up to the neck. This is an assassination jutsu, not because it actually does any harm to the target, but once you do it, they are immobilized, and waiting on you to execute them.

"We will arrive in Port City in another five days. I want each of you to practice your first jutsu until then. I expect you to be able to perform the first jutsu on those scrolls by then." Hinata and Tenten just sighed. Naruto grinned and nodded. There was no way that he would fail. Anko put the top back on the box. "Take care of those. If you lose them, you won't be getting any more for a good long time."

Naruto went back to the first and unrolled his scroll. The first jutsu Anko wanted him to master, Wind Release: Great Breakthrough was a C-rank wind ninjutsu. Studying the diagrams, he slowly went through the hand seals several time before he felt he had memorized them. Looking at the next section he saw that after making the seals he had to bring his hands to his mouth, and exhale a large breath. The air would then be charged with wind-natured chakra, amplifying the minor breeze in both power and volume. He figured that he could spend tomorrow practicing the actual jutsu, while tonight he would work on the motions.

Hinata had crossed her legs and spread the scroll across her lap. Even without really thinking, she could come up with a dozen applications for the Lightning Release: Lightning Grip. Combining the paralyzing effects of the jutsu along with the Jyuuken would be a particularly devastating combo if she could manage to maintain channeling both at once. If she couldn't manage that, then she could just use the Lightning Grip to lock up key muscle groups, and then got after her opponent with the Jyuuken, or vice versa. She thought she would probably be able to perform the C-rank jutsu twelve or fifteen times a day after looking at the description and chakra consumption.

The way that the Lightning Release: Lightning Grip worked was to channel chakra to the hand and use the hand seals to charge the air surrounding the hand, and using a extremely thin lay of chakra to prevent her shocking herself. Putting a hand to her chin, she wondered what would happen if she were to use a kunai or shuriken while maintaining the Lightning Grip. That would be something she would have to test out when she successfully performed the jutsu.

Tenten had chosen a third log to sit on and cracked open her scroll. She was glad Anko had found a jutsu like Earth Release: Earth Style Wall to teach her. She had a number of jutsu under her belt, but none of them were defensively oriented. She imagined that she could use the Earth Style Wall to block any big taijutsu or ninjutsu that were aimed her way in close range and allow her to break the line of sight and get out of melee range, back to where she was more comfortable.

Tenten frowned however when she read the description. It was a B-rank ninjutsu with good reason. It required a good bit of chakra to make an usably large wall, and the jutsu need plenty of upper body strength up shove enough chakra into the ground and enough physical energy to flip the slab of compacted dirt up. The hand seals were kind of tricky too, with a left handed tiger, and two modified ox seals. Tenten sighed yet again. She was going to have to work hard to use the Earth Style Wall by the time they all arrived in Port City. She should also probably ask Naruto for some upper body exercises.

The next two days passed relatively quietly, with the courier staying silent and sullen, barely speaking, and only to answer a direct question in as few syllables as possible. Hinata, Naruto and Tenten had been working on their jutsu almost nonstop. Hinata had gotten the technique down on the second day, and had been refining her control since then. Testing it on Naruto, she was able to power it to give a slight tingle, or lock up an entire muscle group. She hadn't dared go any farther than that, for fear of doing him permanent harm. They had tried to practice on shadow clones, but no matter how much chakra Naruto pumped in them, they were destroyed before she could work up to what should be a lethal level. So she had switched from practicing on Naruto and clones to the surrounding foliage. She was now able to create enough of a charge to boil the sap in small trees and large bushes. She remembered the first time she had successfully exploded a tree.

**Flashback no Jutsu**

The three ninja and the courier had been on the road for about two hours now. The sun was starting to peek over the trees, making it uncomfortable to look straight ahead. Hinata had been seeing how long she could maintain the Lightning Grip, when Naruto stepped up beside her.

"Hey Hinata-chan. How's your jutsu going?"

"I-it's coming along N-naruto-kun."

"That is good. How strong is it?"

"I really d-don't know. I h-have been seeing how l-long I can maintain it before having to d-drop it." Hinata nearly blushed again. She had stuttered only four times that time. Ever since her talk with his mother, Hinata had resolved to become a person that Naruto could trust completely with all his secrets. The first step, she had planned was to be able to talk normally in his presence. But it was so hard. He was so perfect, that she couldn't help but feel nervous that he would see something that displeased him about her.

"Well, lets see how strong it is then. Try stabbing that tree there." Looking at her love, seeing him believe absolutely in her, she suddenly felt that there was no possible way that she could fail him. Reforming the Lightning Grip, she focused all her chakra to her fist, and locked it into a knife hand. Chambering her hand she took two steps to the side and jabbed her hand straight forward. She cracked the bark of the tree before something completely unexpected happened. A moment passed when nothing happened and Hinata's features started to droop, when the tree dissolved into tiny wooden shards that flew in every direction. She was launched from her feet by the concussion, and slammed into something hard. When she recovered her senses, Anko had a kunai out in a fist, trying to see what had happened and Tenten had a partially unrolled scroll in hand. Next, she realized that the thing she had slammed into was Naruto. She immediately pushed herself away from him, mortified. Anko put her knife away, seeing that there was no danger. Everyone except Naruto looked at her with a questioning expression.

"Sorry Anko. I was testing out how strong I could make the Lightning Release: Lightning Grip on a tree and I must have overpowered it."

"Well, at least we know that you can use it at a lethal level."

"That was pretty impressive Hinata-san."

"Not really. It was Naruto-kun's idea."

Right on cue, Naruto grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "Well, I didn't expect the tree to frickin explode on us."

"Well, what did you expect?"

"I dunno, may be a little charring or a bit of a hole."

"Electricity conducts, Naruto-san. It will never stay in just one place. It will try to spread out as far as possible."

"Well, I know that now." Meanwhile, Hinata smiled. Naruto had said she had done a good job, and that was enough for her.

**Flashback no Jutsu kai**

Naruto had gotten his jutsu down after ten minutes of practice, much to the annoyance of Tenten. He had spent the rest of the time systematically stripping the forest of its leaves. In fact the constant whistling of the hurricane winds was starting to wear slightly. She kept her annoyance at the blond in check though. After all he had helped her when she had needed it without a second thought. She thought back to the first morning after leaving receiving their jutsu scrolls while Anko and Hinata were breaking down camp.

**Flashback no Jutsu**

"Hey Naruto-san, I need some help with something if you could."

Naruto looked up from poking the ashes of the fire. "Sure thing Tenten-chan. What is it you need?"

"Well, the jutsu that Anko gave me, Earth Release: Earth Style Wall is giving me some trouble. It seems that I am not strong enough to get it to work. What I got to do is push a bunch of chakra into the ground when I hit it hard enough to flip the dirt up. I know you do a lot of physical training and was wondering if you could give me an exercise or two to help me build up my upper body strength."

"Yeah, sure thing. I think I know just what you need. You say you need to be able to hit the ground harder to flip the wall up? I can lend you my spare set of weights to help you slowly build muscle mass." Tenten stood outside his tent as he dug around for his extra weights. Finally he emerged with four segmented metal bracelets.

Naruto was holding two bracelets in each hand when Tenten took hold of one pair. Immediately, the bracelets were drawn toward earth and Tenten was hunched over, not expecting the weight. Using both hands she managed to barely straighten herself. Looking at the iron nugget inlaid to the bracelet, she saw that it had the numerals '100' on it.

Looking up at her blond team mate, she had a slightly embarrassed expression on her face. "Uh, hey Naruto-san, can you change the weight of these things. I don't think that I can handle a hundred pounds on each limb yet."

"Oops. My bad. I forgot to change them back to normal." Naruto reached over and took the bands of steel from her. Tenten was annoyed to note that he was able to hold and lift them effortlessly. She knew that she didn't train nearly as hard as Naruto did after spying on him that one morning back in Konoha, but she was surprised to realize how big the difference between their physical strength was. Tenten knew that men had a natural advantage when it came to brute strength, but she hadn't thought the gap was so large.

Naruto brought her out of her inner speculation by handing the bands back. "Here you go. I changed them to thirty pounds a piece. Try that out and see how it is." This time when she took two of the weights she wasn't dragged to the ground. Naruto showed her how to secure them to her wrists and how they had a strip of felt on the inside so that her wrists didn't chafe. Moving her arms about, she looked back with mild approval.

"Much better. A little heavy, but that is the point of the exercise." Naruto smiled back and knelt down, pulling up the hem of her pants to put on the anklets. "I know you want to focus on your upper body, but I want you to wear the anklets also. It will increase your leg strength at the same time as your arm strength and increase your stamina. Now let me show you how to alter the weight. It is quite simple really. All you have to do is channel chakra into the iron nugget here," he said pointing. "The more chakra you put in, the heavier it gets, and the numbers will change automatically. Don't increase the weight by more than five pounds a day though. Getting too heavy too quickly will cause tears in the muscles, tendons and ligaments. If we were back in Konoha, that wouldn't be a major deal as you could just go to the hospital to get patched up, but we have no medic with us. So if you get hurt, you are stuck with it until we get to Kiri."

"Wow Naruto-san, you actually sounded smart there for a minute."

"Eh, well, Mom forced me to let my muscles heal naturally the first time I disobeyed her about the weights. Trust me, it is annoying as hell." What he didn't say was that since the fox inside him increased his healing speed several hundred times over, Anko had pinned him down and ripped the muscles herself over and over as he healed.

"Well let me show you the actual exercise." Naruto turned away from her and bent down placing his hands on the ground and flipped his feet into the air. "Walk on your hands."

Tenten eyed him dubiously. "You sure that this will make me stronger quickly?"

Naruto bent his feet backwards over his head and he swung his body back so that he was upright and facing away from her again. Turning around he responded. "Well, it's not going to be an overnight thing, but yeah, I think you should be able to manage the Earth Style Wall in a couple of days between the weights and walking on your hands. Since you are a a hundred twenty pounds heavier, you probably won't be able to walk for more than a few minutes at a time, but do it for as long and often as you can, and before you know it you will walk on you hands as easily as your feet."

**Flashback no Jutsu kai**

It was on the fifth day that they arrived in the coastal town of Port City just like Anko said. Naruto, Hinata and Tenten were awed by the sheer sized of the town. Konoha was a relatively small village, only having a population of ten thousand or so. Port City had a population of 5.5 million people. The town walls stretched to the left and right of the road, fading into the distance.

"Name, nationality and purpose of your visit please," and extraordinarily bored gate guard said. Anko stepped forward to address the man. "Konohagakure tokubetsu jounin Mitarashi Anko, genin Higurashi Tenten, Hyuuga Hinata, and Uzumaki Naruto escorting courier Bunmin Sanji." The guard looked up in surprise. It wasn't every day that a team of Konoha-nin passed through Port City. There were only a few places that ships sailed to from Port City, namely Water Country on occasion, some of the larger independent islands, and rarely, Lightning Country. Most islanders, including those of Sea and Tea Countries hired Kiri-nin by virtue of distance and specialization. After checking their hitai-aites and passports he waved them through.

Naruto was rubbernecking the entire time they passed through the city. He doubted that he had seen this many people at once before, and this was just one street! Hinata and Tenten were less impressed. Tenten had visited other towns before with her father when he went to negotiate prices for iron and coal, but never to a place this large. Hinata had been to the capitol of Fire Country once when she was little, but she didn't remember much. That was the last, and only trip out of Konoha that she remembered. After all, she was the Hyuuga Heir, and as such was far too valuable to risk to kidnapping or murder callously.

It took the four people half an hour to navigate through the crowds to what Anko referred to as the Perfumed Quarter. The Perfumed Quarter boundary was marked by a bridge crossing a canal called the Bridge of Flowers. It was a very plain bridge actually, with no flowers anywhere, or any decorations that Naruto could see. When they crossed onto the far side Anko took a deep breath and Naruto gagged. "Perfumed Quarter my ass. More like the Putrid Quarter." For indeed the Perfumed Quarter was a bit of a misnomer. The smell was a melange of many smells, chamber pots, sour mud, and decaying fish most predominant among them. Naruto pulled up the neck of his shirt to cover his mouth an nose, trying to breath as shallowly as possible. He breathed in through his mouth trying to get some relief from the smell, and now he could taste the sour mud on his tongue. He fervently hoped that they would be getting the hell out of there as soon as possible.

Anko turned to the Bunmin. "Do you already have a ship lined up to take us to Kiri or do we have to find one ourselves?"

"There should be a ship waiting for us called _Spray_."

"Do you have any idea where it is docked?"

"No, but we will be contacted before long."

"You mean we have to hang out here?" Naruto was not pleased to be spending a second longer in the Perfumed Quarter than necessary.

"Sucks for you don't it brat." Instantly, all three ninja were glaring at him, but he managed to shrug them off. "Oh, there is my contact I believe. Too bad. I was starting to enjoy the air here." Sanji stepped forward to face a hulking red haired bruiser of a man.

"You are Bunmin Sanji?" Naruto imagined the ground rumbling at the sound of his voice.

"You are Maeldin Yarin?"

"Hai. The captain is ready to go, so if you will follow me." Without waiting for a response, the man named Yarin turned away and walked away. Exchanging a look with Tenten and Hinata, Naruto followed him. _Spray_ was eighty feet long, with two masts, and broad in the beam, with room for deck cargo as well as in the holds. There was short, squat, broad and muscular man with a peculiar beard with a round but not soft face shouting orders from the raised rear of the boat. The man saw them board his ship and promptly made his way to them. He walked with an odd rolling gait, as if he were accustomed to the ground shifting beneath him.

"I be Domon Bayle, captain of _Spray_. I take it you be the Konoha-nin traveling to Kiri?" Naruto looked hard at the odd man. He was obviously a foreigner, from his squat, but muscular build, thick accent, his dress, a green woolen coat, with a white shirt and black pants embroidered with nine golden bees, and his hairstyle, grown long in the back and cut off at the collar, a beard that covered his chin but left his upper lip bare and name.

"We are," Anko answered.

"Good then. There be some rules while you be on my ship. One, you do no go into any room other than your own without a crewman. Two, you be passengers, so stay out of the way of the sailors. Three, you be a Hyuuga. You will no activate your Byakugan while on my ship. Four, you no be training with your jutsus on board my ship. I do no wish my sails to be set on fire because you be learning a new technique. You follow my rules or find someone else to take you to Kiri. Do we have an accord?" He finished this by spitting into his palm and holding it out.

"We have an accord," Anko responded without missing a beat, spitting in her hand and shaking his.

"That be good then. I do no want your hunter-nin coming after me for dumping you in the ocean. Fortune prick me, man, do you want to run us into a sandbar," Domon returned to the helm roaring at the poor pilot.

"He is an... interesting character for sure," Tenten said.

"He comes from a continent across the ocean called the Wetlands. They have some very unusual people there."

"Have you ever been there Mom?"

"Not myself, but I have dealt with several natives and know someone who has been there. They have the some of the best sailors in the world, able to cross the whirlpool fields in Whirlpool Country which cuts the trip to several island nations sorter by several days."

And so the voyage to Kirigakure started of without a hitch. Of course things were going far too smoothly to last. On the second day of the second leg of their journey they were attacked.

"Captain Domon," the man in the crows next called down. "There be something ahead of us."

Domon looked up from his sea chart up on the quarter deck. He held his hand out and a crewman handed him a telescope. He swept it back and forth across the horizon several time before spotting what the look out saw. Lowering the telescope he scowled mightily. Domon descended to the weather deck where the three shinobi were.

"You," he said, pointing an accusing finger at Anko, "what be the message you be taking to Kiri?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because there be four men standing on the water ahead of us. I want to know what kind of trouble I be in."

"I assure you, it is only a routine communique between two shinobi villages, completely unclassified. I know of no reason for anyone to desire to intercept us."

"Well, there be four men that definitely be shinobi that will probably dispute that. Fortune prick me this do be why I hate carrying shinobi. After this I no carry any shinobi, even if it were my aged grandmother that do be asking."

That said, Domon stumped off, thundering orders. He disappeared into his cabin and reappeared a minute later, a thick cutlass on his waist. Naruto, Tenten and Hinata didn't need to wait for Anko's order before they were retrieving their weapons. By the time they returned to the weather deck, the four men were close enough to make out. Disturbingly, not one of them seemed to be wearing hitai-aite on their foreheads, although it was a possibility that they were wearing them elsewhere, they were not yet close enough to tell. Hinata closed her eyes and performed the eleven hand seals to activate her dojutsu.

"Hinata, what do you see?"

"They are wearing no identifying insignia, Anko."

"Fuck. Well that complicates things a bit. Alright here is what we will do. We are facing four shinobi of unknown allegiance and skill. I will see if they are friendly or not, and we will proceed from there. In the more than likely case that they are hostile, stay close to the ship. We do not want to be drawn into and extended battle if at all possible. Ideally, we delay the shinobi long enough for _Spray_ to get past and catch up. Do not hesitate to call for help if you should find yourself over matched. There is no shame in needing help to defeat an enemy. I believe in you three. This is what you have been training for the last two months. Now make me proud." Waiting for her three students to nod, they ran up to the quarter deck.

"Captain Domon, I am going to see what they want. It is entirely possible that they are not enemies, in which case we should be able to move on without the delay. Nevertheless, prepare for a fight."

Domon looked back with a look that told her to teach her grandmother to suck eggs. Grinning, Anko jumped down to the weather deck and leaped off the prow. Channeling chakra to her feet, she ran on top of the water to the four shinobi. She glanced back once to check on the tree genin to find them pacing the ship on the water. Naruto was running ahead of the bow, with Hinata to his right and Tenten to his left. Nodding approvingly, she turned to focus on her potential opponents. Reaching earshot she stopped and addressed them.

"You are impeding a Konohagakure-chartered ship on a diplomatic mission to Kirigakure. State your intentions or depart in peace. Konoha has no dispute with you, nor wishes to."

The four figures were all robed in thick grey cloth, exposing only their heads. They were all very similar looking, the three men and one woman. Each had black hair and black eyes. The only distinguishing features about them were their hair styles. The first ninja had his hair in a Sasuke- like style, what Naruto had termed the duck's ass hairstyle. The second ninja was a woman, and had her hair grown out to her shoulders, one side extremely unkempt, and the other neatly combed. The middle guy had done his hair up in random spikes, while the fourth had his in a flattop.

She figured that they were probably related somehow. The middle man, the one with his hair in spikes, smirked and threw his head back laughing. "Wow. That is amusing. You think you have no dispute with us, yet your Hokage was the one who forced our leader from his rightful place. I think that is a pretty good indicator of you having a dispute with us, even if you probably don't know it. In any case, hand the courier over to us and you can be on your way."

"Yeah, handing our client over to the first guy that asks sets a bad precedent. I'm sorry, but I am going to have to say no."

"How... unfortunate. In that case, we will kill you and then take the courier. Jin, Misao, Akira, go and handle the runts. I'll take care of the Konoha-bitch myself."

Anko tensed as the three other figures jumped past her to attack her students. She hoped that they could handle those three, because she had a feeling that this guy wasn't going to be a pushover. Grinning widely, the man discarded his robe, letting it sink beneath the surface of the water. "I do hope that you are skilled. I would hate to think that I picked the weak one in your group to fight."

"My name is Mitarashi Anko, and I think you will find that I am plenty skilled."

"A pleasure to meet you, Anko-san. My name is Takehiko." Hardly waiting for the words to leave his mouth, he attacked. Anko set herself into a defense stance, ducking and dodging, measuring her enemies skill. Unfortunately, he was very skilled, able to keep up with her easily. Knowing that she would not last at all in an extended battle, she went straight for the kill. "Hidden Shadow Snake Hands," and thrust both her arms forward, fanged serpents leaping forth. They wrapped around Takehiko and bit deeply, injecting lethal poison into his flesh. A second after that though, he shimmered out of existence.

_'Fuck, when the hell did he cast a genjutsu?' _

"Impressive. I don't think I have ever seen a jutsu quite like that before. Tell me, is that an original technique?"

Anko snarled whirling around to face Takehiko to find him inches away from her. Slamming her hands together, she made three seals, crying "Snake Fang Nails." She swiped her now-lengthened nails across his face, only to have him shimmer away again. "Come out and fight me like a man," she snarled.

"Why would I do that? Do you mistake me for some idiot samurai who will abandon his cover to fight honorably? We are ninjas you stupid woman. There are no rules in our fights. Konoha has become soft of you are allowed to be a jounin-sensei. And here I thought that I could have some fun, but now you bore me." Anko detected the faint _slap-slap-slap _of feet hitting water and dropped all her chakra control. She dropped down into the ocean, narrowly avoiding a knife hand that would have likely ripped her heart out. As it was, it merely grazed her shoulder. Grinning her snake-grin, Anko climbed back up on top of the water.

"Well, so maybe you aren't all talk. I am glad. That means I can start taking you seriously now." Dropping her arms loosely to the side, she charged him. "Learn why they call me the Snake Bitch." As she came within range Anko leaped up and struck a knife hand blow to his neck. Takehiko warded the jab off to one side, but felt the skin of his hand part. Next there was a burning sensation as the poison generated by Anko's earlier Snake Fang Nail entered his blood stream. Takehiko leaped back with an emotionless mask and brought his hands to his mouth saying "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique."

Anko frowned as she countered with a Water Release: Water Style Wall. The Great Fireball Technique was a trademark jutsu of the Uchiha clan. How did this hitai-aite-less stranger know it? Not waiting for Takehiko to recover, she cast a Lightening Release: Lightning Blast Technique with three fingers. She saw her lightning bolt connect and raced forward to finish him off. Before she got halfway however, he responded with a Water Release: Water Shark Projectile Technique. Five water sharks hurtled toward her, but she drew her kunai and using the Hebi Style, danced in between them, dispersing them with sharp steel. But the technique had given the mysterious shinobi the chance to vanish. She looked around quickly, but saw nothing. Of course, that didn't mean much, as he seemed to have some skill with genjutsu.

_'So where would I hide if I were him,' _she pondered. Suddenly she realized where he was a split second before he jumped out of the water beneath her. Rotating in mid air, she used the Hebi Style to send half a dozen cuts his way, shredding his clothes. As she landed Anko launched herself towards him, trying to keep him from retreating by engaging him in taijutsu. She was starting to feel the drain on her chakra, having used one A-rank and a C-rank jutsu already. She was by no means done, but she did not have the stamina for a prolonged fight. There was a reason why she specialized in assassination.

The two shinobi exchanged half a dozen taijutsu blows, Anko scoring three more glancing hits. This was good. He was clearly a ninjutsu and genjutsu type, as his taijutsu was clearly merely average. What was unusual though was how he was able to predict her Hebi Style attacks, a style developed specifically to be unpredictable. He wasn't perfect at it, but good enough to be interesting. She tried a straight arm knife hand strike at him like he had earlier, only for him to do the same thing she did when he tried the same maneuver earlier. That caused her to blink in surprise. Not many shinobi out there that could or would use an enemy's tactic against them. Running away so that he would not be able to catch her standing still she zig zagged in a random pattern.

She noticed the water start to boil about ten feet to her left, and a second later, a Fire Release: Fire Dragon Projectile leaped out of the water at her. Definitely a ninjutsu-type then, as he was able to create a fire technique while underwater. Well, if he wanted to hide underwater, than she would use that against him. She charged her hand in a Lightening Release: Lightening Grip and thrust it into the ocean. Sure enough, a moment later, Takehiko jumped out of the water, worse for the wear.

"Fucking ow."

"Yeah, thats kind of the point."

"Well, you get points for creativity."

"Thanks. I was surprised when you used my own tactic against me. I sure didn't see that coming."

"Well, I try to keep my enemies guessing."

Anko was about to retort when the three chakra signatures of her students faded, first Hinata, then Naruto twenty seconds later, and finally Tenten fifteen seconds after that.

"Well, I can't say I am surprised. It was three on three."

But he was surprised himself when he felt the three genin's chakra signatures return, coupled with a new power also.

"Don't count them out yet," Anko replied, smiling ferally, although she wondered at the new power as well.

Naruto watched Anko confront the four unidentified ninja, presumably exchanging banter for a minute until the middle one said something and the other three ran past his mother and approached them. _Spray_ had stopped, all the crewmen watching anxiously as to what would happen. Domon Bayle may have only met the four ninja the other day, but they had paid for passage, and well, he might add, so he would not run off and abandon them at the first sign of trouble. Unfortunately, he had no archers among his crew, so he ordered everyone to arm themselves with swords, pikes and whatever else they might favor. None of his men had any shinobi training, so they couldn't water walk, but if _Spray_ was boarded, then they would defend her.

Meanwhile, Naruto, Tenten and Hinata were not doing so well. Things had started off somewhat evenly, with the three genin sticking together and attacking the same person at once. These guys were most likely nuke-nin, despite their lack of hitai-aite, and fairly skilled. The three people approached in a headlong rush and stopped abruptly. Naruto, Hinata and Tenten drew kunai and retreated, back to back. The three ninja stood there silently, until the one with the flattop flicked his gaze away. As if that broke some kind of invisible restraints, they charged the trio of genin. Flattop drew a fist back and aimed it at Naruto who easily parried the fist.

"Hey," Naruto grunted, blocking a series of lightning fast punches, "can we at least know who we are fighting here?"

Without missing a beat, the man with the flattop replied "Akira." The duckbutt headed one said "Jin" and the schizophrenic haired woman replied "Misao."

"Nice to meet you guys. Don't mind telling us why you are attacking us would you?" As Naruto said that, he hooked arms with Tenten and switched places with her, drawing her out of the way of a foot sweep. Naruto dropped a pile driver onto Misao, but caught nothing but water. Waiting a moment to see whether or not they were going to reply, Naruto shook his head. "Well, nothing to do but to beat it out of you." Saying that, he immediately formed the cross seal to perform his trademark jutsu. After the sea breeze dissipated the cloud of smoke, the three enemy nin were surrounded by thirty Narutos, ten for each.

Again the other three ninja paused. Without a word being spoken, the ninja with the duckbutt hair broke ranks. But it was not to flee, but to attack. Before any of Naruto's clones could react, Jin had destroyed eight clones. Naruto's mouth thinned. The bastard was fast, he would give him that. But quantity had a quality all of its own, and a few seconds later, Jin was being pressed back, the sheer weight of the onslaught forcing him to retreat. Of course, he destroyed a clone with every step he took, so he wasn't doing too bad.

"Now," Naruto roared. They had to take make the most of the brief numerical superiority that his shadow clones afforded them. Judging by the rapidity that Jin was dispatching them, they didn't have much time. Naruto hurriedly summoned another batch of thirty clones to make up for the losses before he led the charge on Misao and Akira. Naruto flew forward, loosing a flurry of punches, trying to distract the two nin and allow Hinata to get into a more favorable position to use her Jyuuken with. Tenten had fallen back, hopping several paces away from the mysterious ninja, gaining the range she needed to use her scrolls, keeping them off balance with the occasional flurry of kunai and shuriken.

Naruto smiled slightly as Hinata charged, bloodline eyes activated, hands glowing, ready to end this battle. Misao either realized that something was wrong when Naruto smiled, or sensed Hinata's rush, since she turned to face the approaching kunoichi. Misao ducked, pushing Hinata's outstretched arm harmlessly to the side and drove a kunai into her stomach.

Naruto's world froze for the handful of seconds that it took for Misao to withdraw the kunai, straighten, and allow Hinata's body to collapse into the ocean. When Misao turned to face the blond genin, Naruto growled. The damnable woman showed absolutely no emotion that he had just killed one of the bare handful of Naruto's precious people. She would pay. Naruto was unaware of the changes that were overtaking him. They were minor, but changed him into another person entirely. Naruto's eyes became slitted and shifted from the clear sapphire blue to a bloody red. His whisker birthmarks lengthened and widened. His nails grew three inches in seconds and gained a razor edge. Unconsciously, Naruto began drawing on the youki of the Kyuubi.

Naruto focused his gaze on the woman in front of him. She had slain Hinata, the kindest person Naruto knew and would pay for it in blood. Forgetting ninja tools, he launched himself at Misao, slashing at her with his new claws. Misao impassively ducked, dodged and parried his attack, retreating when necessary. The fight continued in this manner for two or three minutes. Misao was waiting for Naruto to tire himself out, because she didn't think that anyone would be able to maintain the furious pace that Naruto set. She had not counted on Naruto drawing on the chakra of the Kyuubi though. Her mouth thinned into a line as she realized that the blond brat in front of her showed no signs of weakening, or even slowing. She bore numerous cuts and slashes from his nails, all superficial.

Blocking a clawed hand cold, she decided to end this; she ducked under a wild punch and stepped forward, so that his back was now to her. Fingers flickering through the seals, she muttered "Fire Release: Burning Grip." As she said that, her right hand ignited. Misao slapped the next to attacks away with her incendiary appendage, repressing a smile as she saw Naruto pause, cradling her now burned hands. She masked a frown and he resumed his assault three seconds later, burns healed. The Kyuubi's onijutsu of regeneration no doubt. Warding his assault off again, she took the offensive for the first time. Hands flashing again, she cried "Fire Release: Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique" spewing four medium fireballs from her mouth. Naruto leaped over them, ignoring the gout of steam that rose when they contacted the ocean. But the jutsu had given Misao the opportunity she needed. She drew a kunai in her normal hand and slashed at Naruto with the other, flames roaring with the rapid motion. As he was being driven back she flickered out of existence. Naruto was turning to find her when he felt a kunai drive into his side.

An excruciating pain immobilized his brain, locking all his muscles up. He closed his eyes in agony as Misao hooked her kunai, slicing, and probably cutting his kidney in half. He started to fall forward, to be arrested momentarily as another kunai was driven in under his ribs. It was a much lesser pain though, barely noticeable in the wake of the kidney cut. Unable to do anything, even moan, Naruto was helpless as he fell forward into the cold blue waters. But he did register the urban camouflage she was wearing, and more importantly, a hitai-aite with a single musical note around her neck.

Tenten had a much worse time of her fight with Akira. The bastard was fast, faster than she was, and that was a problem. She had expended a dozen scrolls by now, and was running dangerously low on ammunition. Akira seemed to take pleasure in taunting her, not that his face showed anything. He didn't attack, but instead just stood there, dancing around as she unleashed wave after wave of pointy steel at him. However, she was not able to even come close to cutting the bastard. '_Well, I guess it's hand to hand after all._'

Grimacing, she reached down to her thigh, drawing a pair of kunai. She was very appreciative of Anko's lessons in hand-to-hand knife fighting now. She didn't have the chakra reserves of Naruto, or even Hinata, despite all the exercises that she had been doing to increase them, so a ninjutsu battle was not a good idea. And her newest and only defensive jutsu, Earth Release: Earth Style Wall was useless on the water. She knew a pair of fire techniques, but they were extremely draining for her. There was a reason why she specialized in ranged weapons, and this was exactly why.

Tenten backpedaled frantically, trying to gain some space to use her weapons, but Akira was not obliging her. Twisting her mouth into a grimace, she decided that she wasn't going to get to use the rest of her scrolls, so she switched tactics. Setting her foot, she crouched and launched herself forward. Tenten slashed at Akira diagonally with one knife, following up with a low stab, both of which Akira nimbly danced away from.

Before she could follow up on her opening, the world dimmed, darkening until there was nothing but impenetrable ebony blackness. Tenten's heart came pounded furiously, whirling around to try to catch sight of her opponent.

'_Calm down Tenten. This is the Bringer of Darkness Technique. It's nothing but a genjutsu. You can handle this.' _Tenten took several calming breaths, and raised her hand in the half ram seal, concentrating. "Kai," Tenten said. Nothing happened. "Kai." The darkness remained. "Kai dammit!"

Tenten was starting to panic again. "Ah ah ah," a voice sounded. That won't work my dear. You see, most genjutsu will anchor to the target's chakra system, so if you were to halt your chakra for a moment, you could dispel the jutsu. But I have anchored my technique to the environment surrounding you, so that isn't going to work. Actually, there is a way that you could dispel it, but I am not going to tell you how. Maybe you can figure it out on your own. The real question is, can you do it before I kill you?"

Tenten cursed. It would figure that her enemy would make a genjutsu in such a way that the only method to dispelling it would be the technique that she was worst at. Well, there was nothing to do but try anyways. Closing her eyes, she held one hand in front of her in the half and focused. She felt the chakra start to build up in her solar plexus, a slight warmth emanating from the spot. Concentrating harder, she compressed the mass of chakra into a ball. When she had gathered as much chakra as she could she released the chakra pulse and opened her eyes. She could see the blue shimmer expand outwards and heaved a sigh of relief as the oppressive blackness dissolved. Tenten caught her breath again though when she saw her enemy standing six inches in front of her, smiling slightly and twirling a kunai.

"Good job," he said and plunged the knife into her chest.


	7. Degrees of Death

**Chapter Seven: Degrees of Death**

Naruto noticed three things when he woke up. One, he was dressed in his regular attire, but undamaged. Two, there was no pain. In fact he appeared to be wholly uninjured. The third thing he noticed was his surroundings. He appeared to be in a massive sewer system, one designed for a huge city. The sewer was close to twenty feet wide, and about as high. A cement walkway stood halfway to the ceiling, with wire gangways extending over the waterway. Looking around, Naruto was standing in the center of an all-way intersection, the waterways stretching into darkness each way. The sewer was filled with a several inches of still water, up to his ankles, which he was standing in.

But the thing that held his attention was the large fox in front of him. Two things prevented him from having a heart attack on the spot. One, while it had nine waving tails, its fur was a shimmering, almost metallic gold, tails tipped in white. Two, while it was flexing its claws, those claws were digging furrows into the stone of the sewer, and not his neck. Plus there was a sense of familiarity to the fox. How he knew that fox would never do anything to harm him, he didn't know, but he wasn't any less certain for it.

"I am going to go out on a limb here and guess that you aren't the Kyuubi."

The fox grinned. "Well, not the Kyuubi that you are thinking of, at least."

"Okay, well if you aren't going to eat me alive, then what are you?"

"I am half of your soul, your unconscious, your fighting spirit, your conscience. Call me what you will, but I am you."

Naruto eyed the fox warily, but didn't flip out. "And do you have a name? Or are you Naruto also?"

"My name is Kitsune."

"Kitsune. Right. That is the best you could come up with? You couldn't think of anything a little more original?"

"However much I may not look it, you and I are the same being. As such, I can only imagine what you can imagine. And despite your penchant for pranks, you really aren't all that creative when it comes to naming something."

Scowling at the insult, Naruto nevertheless rolled the name around in his mouth, tasting it. Despite how cliché it seemed, Kitsune seemed right, proper, fitting perfectly to the creature standing before him. "Okay, now that we have gotten the introductions out of the way, let me ask you something. Why, of every creature there is, do you look like the damnable Kyuubi?"

Cocking an eyebrow in a surprisingly human gesture Kitsune answered, "do you think that harboring the greatest of the Bijuu would leave your soul completely unaffected?"

Thinking it over for a moment, he conceded the point."Okay, next question. What happened? I remember the that bitch stabbing me, and next thing I know, here I am."

"To put it simply, you were killed, although not permanently. Your death is what allowed you to meet me at all. When we are done here, you will wake up, only seconds having passed and return to life."

"Wait, you mean my body is still at the battlegrounds?"

"Your physical form, yes." When Kitsune said this, Naruto started to panic.

"Tenten-chan, Hinata-chan, they are in danger, dying. I need to go back now. I gotta save them. I cannot lose any more of my precious people."

Don't worry Naruto. Like I just said, when you wake up, only a few seconds will have passed outside.

"Seriously, that is great. But I can't defeat these guys by myself. I need help."

"Fortunately, that I can do. Now that you have been here and met me, you can use my power whenever you need."

"Your power? What is that?"

"You will see shortly. Now, go save your friends." The moment he said that, the sewer faded from view. Gradually he could feel wetness all around him, but not blood. He opened his eyes and met a pair of obsidian orbs leaning over him, a kunai poised to enter his eye. His opponent hesitated a second at seeing his eyes open again. Naruto took the opportunity to push all the chakra he could muster to his back and arms, blasting him up out of the water, spinning in the air. He managed to stabilize himself and landed on his feet on the water.

It was then that he noticed a sword in his grip. It was fairly long, about sixty inches. The hilt was wrapped in a red cord, for grip, and terminated in a small circular tsuba. The actual blade was odd, the edge extending halfway down the back, it's color an odd silver, far shinier than regular steel should be. The blade was easy enough to look at except when he tried to turn it to look at his reflection. When he did, it seemed that the blade shone with an inner light, focusing and concentrating all the light directly back at him. The plain brown saya was slung across his back, the same red cording doubled to take the place of a baldric.

Blinking the purple afterimage from his view, he turned to the ninja that was about to skewer him through his eye, he focused his rage, and felt Kitsune's anger join his own, flowing from the sword. But as he raised his sword to charge, the ninja jumped back several times, gaining some distance. Half a second later, he was joined by the two ninja that had been fighting Tenten and Hinata. It was then that he felt two other power signatures similar to Kitsune, but not quite the same. Holding his breath, not daring to hope, he turned his head, and saw Hinata and Tenten standing on the water by him, new weapons present as well. But their changes weren't limited to armaments. Instead of wearing their normal clothes, they had a black haori and hakama over a white shirt and white tabi.

With a fierce joy rising in him at the knowledge that his precious people were not dead, he lowered himself into a sword stance that he had seen once in a movie.

"Want us? Then come and get us fuckers!" The three ninja shared a single glance and simultaneously retreated. Naruto looked over to where his mother was fighting the leader. She was not doing as well as they were it would seem. She had a decent amount of blood on her, and was panting. As the three ninja they have been fighting neared their leader, he said something to Anko and fled.

Anko gave the newly armed and garbed trio a questioning look, but waved him off in favor of getting back on the ship. Someone lowered a rope, to which Anko just smirked, and walked up the side of the ship. Naruto Tenten and Hinata followed suit. The four ninja were given a wide berth as they got on deck. Naruto didn't really blame them. They had probably felt the new power that he and his team mates had awoken. Anko turned to Domon. "Where did the messenger run off to?"

"He, uh, is in his room I think." Domon had transported ninja before, and seen a ninja battle or two, but those were nothing in comparison to the raw power that had radiated from the three teens for a minute.

"I need use of your cabin for a little bit."

"Sure. Farthest door down the hall." At that point, he would have done almost anything to get them out of sight.

Anko descended the ladder that led to the hall and cabins that were situated under the quarter deck. She entered Domon's cabin and seated herself on the bed. Naruto let Hinata have the chair that went to the desk built into one wall, and Tenten boosted herself onto the desk and Naruto leaned up against the wall.

Looking at all three in turn, she asked the room at general. "Anyone want to explain what the _fuck_ is going on here?"

"Uh, well, I don't think you are going to believe any of us, if Hinata-chan and Tenten-chan experienced something similar to what I did."

"Try me."

"Well, I was fighting one of the ninja, and got stabbed. I passed out and woke in a massive sewer. There was this golden nine-tailed fox, not the Kyuubi, there that said he was my fighting spirit. Eventually he said that I was still alive and woke me up. Next thing I know, the stab wound is gone, and I got this sword."

Anko gave him a flat look. "You're right. I don't believe you. What about you two?"

"My experience was pretty similar. I got knocked out, woke up near Konoha and a tengu named Shrieking Fang talked to me. I wake up, and here Shrieking Fang is this tessen." Tenten had a pair of tessen on her lap linked with a delicate chain. The spokes appeared to be made of simple iron, but instead of paper or another metal extending between the spokes were feathers of a very large bird. And the whole thing was pure white, both of them.

"Well, I met a kappa named Minazuki in an underwater garden of sorts. She introduced herself, I woke up, and here I am." Hinata had a black gauntlet on her right hand, covering from the fingertips to the elbow. The fingertips were sharpened to a point, and there seemed to be a gauge set into the forearm of the gauntlet.

"What about your clothes?" At that all three shrugged. 'Well, whatever this new power is, you will have to learn to use it." All three nodded in agreement.

Over the next week, the genin trained with their new weapons. Hinata and Tenten discovered that their weapons could shift into swords when they wished, a regular katana for Tenten and a sliver of a rapier for Hinata. Whenever Hinata or Tenten released their shikai, for whatever reason, the strange two-tone clothes appeared, and disappeared when they sealed their shikai. For Naruto, all he had to draw his sword and focus that strange otherworldly power to don the black-and-white clothes.

OoOoO

The three apprentice ninja had decided to have a friendly practice spar to try to familiarize themselves with their new weapons. Domon had docked _Spray_ at a small town in Water Country to trade. So they were now out on the water several hundred feet from the island, Tenten and Naruto facing off and Hinata would then spar the winner. Naruto, ever impatient decided to break the stalemate. He raised Kitsune above his head parallel the water and charged Tenten. Tenten immediately started whirling her tessen in a preemptive defensive maneuver, catching Naruto descending sword with the chain. Drawing Kitsune back, Naruto angled the sword to flash Tenten. Blinking rapidly and hopping backwards, Tenten tried to clear her vision of the purple afterimage Naruto's sword had left. Charging again, Naruto carefully planned his next attack routine out in his head. But strangely enough, Tenten seemed to be able to predict all of his attack, moving to block half a heartbeat before he struck. Withdrawing, he tried again, only to have Tenten counter him perfectly. Growing frustrated with her unexpected facility with her tessen, once more he planned his attack out. But as she moved to counter his first blow, he abruptly changed his attack.

However, Tenten totally ignored his new attack vector, continuing to move as if he had continued with his original attack. Apparently successfully parrying what would have been his last strike, Tenten slid into a defensive stance, only to blink in confusion when Naruto faded out of existence and instantly appeared ten feet to her right. Alternating between staring at where he was no, and where he had been, Tenten tried to puzzle out what the hell he had done to move so fast. Although Naruto appeared to be as confused as to what was going on as she was.

After some careful experimentation, the three genin figured out what had happened. Naruto's double-edged katana could hypnotize anyone who looked into the flash, making them see anything he wanted to see, although someone with enough will could break his illusion as Anko proved. One factor that made it an astonishingly powerful ability was the fact that it could apparently ensnare even Hinata, whose Byakugan normally made her immune to such effects.

Tenten's twin tessen could fire off Wind Release: Great Breakthrough-like gusts of wind or cutting gusts resembling the Blade of Wind and create a number of somewhat less spectacular effects, depending on how she swung them. The most significant ability her fans seemed to possess was how she was able to create a bubble of wind around herself, bending the light around it to turn herself invisible. Her invisibility bubble suffered from a couple of weaknesses, namely she was only able to create bubble large enough to make herself invisible and she had to remain stationary. In that way, it was inferior to the Camouflage Technique, but superior to said technique that it was impossible to interrupt as long as she was conscious. Not even someone walking through her invisibility field was able to disturb it. Finally, the delicate-seeming chain that attached the two parts together could extend indefinitely, as Tenten discovered when she threw it over the edge of the ship, even managing to bean Naruto once. Tenten soon fashion a pair of temporary holsters for her tessen, as releasing her shikai also dispelled her invisibility field.

Finally, Hinata's gauntlet seemed to be a healing weapon as strange as that sounded. Whenever she attacked with the gauntlet, the gauge on her forearm would fill up until it was green. She could then transfer that energy into someone else to either heal their wounds or replenish their chakra pools, the amount of each proportionate on the amount of damage stored in the gauge. The chakra restored to Naruto through this method was unnoticeable, but Hinata could fill Tenten up to about four fifths of her full capacity, and Anko to half.

Eventually they learned that the weapons were the spirits that they had met during the battle the second day on the ship in a physical form. They alternated training with their ninja abilities and their weapons, eventually learning the second jutsu on their scrolls too.

Six days after departing Port City they docked in the docks of Kirigakure. Kiri was a town built on the coast of the main island of Water Country. Half the town, including the Mizukage Tower was on the shore, with much of the civilian residences and shops built on stilts that extended to the ground underwater. Wooden walkways extended between the buildings for pedestrian traffic but much of the traffic seemed to use long thin boats for passage. _Spray _docked at the foreigners docks and the group of Konoha shinobi were taken from there on a larger than average boat to the shore. The four then disembarked and made their way to the Mizukage Tower foot. They received many looks, quite a few hostile ones from the Kiri-nin, but by and large just people wondering what a group of foreign shinobi was doing there.

"Halt," one of the guards flanking the door to the Mizukage's Tower barked. "Identify yourselves and reason for visit."

"I am Konoha-nin Mitarashi Anko escorting courier Bunmin Sanji with a missive for the Mizukage." Sanji stepped forward and offered the scroll to the chunin for examination. The man peered at it closely, turning it over in his hands. When he could find no overt defect with the scroll, he handed it back and opened the doors to admit them. A guide was provided inside and they were led to the office of the Mizukage. Ten minutes later they crossed the threshold into an opulent room. The wood was highly polished, the grain of the wood showing clearly. There were portraits of the previous Mizukages lining one wall in fancifully worked frames. The desk where the Mizukage sat was ornately silvered and gilded, many delicate carvings adorning the edges and legs. The four chairs arrayed before the massive desk were thickly padded, legs, arms, and backs carved so that they looked like they were gouts of water spurting up from a geyser.

If one were to try to think of one word to use to describe the Mizukage, voluptuous would be the correct adjective. Clad in a rather skimpy blue dress over ninja mesh, the Mizukage left a lot of pale flesh to admire. She rose as the foreigners entered the room. He smiled slightly as he swept his gaze across the gathered Konoha-nin.

"Welcome to Kirigakure. I hope that your trip here has been uneventful." Everyone ignored the dozen masked ninja that filed in behind them. After all, it would be foolish to leave their leader alone in the presence of four heavily armed strangers.

"As well as could be expected Mizukage-dono. The weather was pleasant," Anko lied easily.

"Well, that is good to hear. I am sorry to cut straight to the point, but I am told that you have a letter from your Hokage?"

"Not at all Mizukage-dono." Anko reached a hand behind her and held it, waiting for Sanji to place the scroll in her palm. He scowled at being treated as a lowly servant, but handed the scroll over nonetheless. "The Hokage formally invites Kirigakure to participate in this years Chunin Exam, to be held in Konohagakure."

The Mizukage nodded and unsealed the scroll, waving for her guests to seat themselves. Instead they set themselves into something resembling a parade rest, feet spread and hands held behind their backs well away from any steel. The Mizukage looked up briefly and offered a small grin, nodding in acceptance. They were in a foreign Hidden Village after all.

The Mizukage read the scroll in short order and addressed the group arrayed before him. "I have read your message. Return the day after tomorrow and I will have a reply ready. I will have rooms prepared for you. Please enjoy yourselves until then." With that clear dismissal, they were herded out of the office and out of the tower. A jounin was assigned to be their guide while they remained in Kiri.

"My name is Aramaki Daisuke. I will be your guide for the duration of your stay here in Kirigakure. Please ask me anything you need and I will try to be of assistance."

"Hey, do you guys got any ramen stands around here?" As one, the other three members of Team Nine sweat dropped. Leave it to Naruto to ask about ramen first thing.

"Sure thing. There is a nice mom-and-pop place that I like. They make some mean miso ramen." By this time Naruto was pretty giddy. It had been two weeks since he had been able to have a piping hot bowl of his noodles and he was feeling the lack.

Anko, Tenten and Hinata just followed behind the two. They were now discussing the virtues of the different flavors of ramen. Naruto was saying that miso and beef were best because they had the most spices added, while Daisuke favored pork ramen for its texture. When the five ninja and the courier arrived at the stand Naruto promptly rushed in ahead followed by his teammates. The husband and wife duo that ran the stand paused and narrowed their eyes in suspicion at the five foreigners until Daisuke tailed everyone in.

"Ah, Daisuke-kun, so nice to see you today."

"The pleasure is all mine Motoko-san. I would like to introduce you to some visiting ninja from the Fire Country." Daisuke pointed to each one in turn. "And this is Motoko Hikage and Ishikawa. They make the best ramen in the whole of Kiri."

"He only says that because he is our favorite customer." Everyone sat down and took orders. The Motokos were surprised when Naruto ordered an even dozen bowls of ramen, six beef and six miso. They looked questioningly to Anko but just shrugged when Anko nodded. They got paid whether or not he actually ate everything after all. Naruto grinned at their shock when he polished the whole order off. Anko walked behind the group, paying only enough attention so as not to get lost as Daisuke led them to the hotel that they would be staying in for the night.

This was not the Kiri that she had learned about, certainly not the Village of the Bloody Mist lectured about in the Academy. Still following the group she examined the Kiri natives. By and large, they were quiet, conversations being carried out in hushed murmurs. Oddly enough, she sensed no accompanying fear or hate that usually caused people to speak in such a manner. The Kiri natives seemed to be more reserved than the people she was used to, but friendly enough all the same. Overall, it was an odd combination to the Konoha jounin.

After about ten minutes of walking they arrived at the hotel they would be staying for the night. It was about twelve stories, made of blue painted wood. There was an overhang that sheltered the front of the building from the weather. A man in a uniform opened the door as Daisuke led the group inside. The lobby was large and well appointed. A glittering chandelier hung from each of the three vaults. This was obviously one of the better hotels in town. Daisuke approached the counter and spoke to the man there.

"Welcome to the Ocean Palace. Name and date of reservation please."

"Hello. I need five rooms for two days please. Guests of Mizukage-sama. No reservation."

The man who had not looked up when Daisuke spoke at first did so now. "Ah, of course. We have two vacancies in the Shinobi suites that I think will do just fine." The man opened a locked drawer and withdrew a number of keys. "If you and your guests would be so kind as to follow me, I will show you to your rooms." And with a smile and a small bow he walked to a bank of elevators. Everyone piled into the first elevator that dinged. It was a slight squeeze, but they all fit.

After half a minute the elevator slowed to a stop and everyone exited the shiny metal box. The hallway that they were deposited in was as opulent, if not more so than the lobby was. It was well lit, with soft golden lights spaced every ten feet, shining in nooks that held busts of what were presumably important people and expensive-looking vases. The attendant paused twenty feet from the elevator and used one of the keys he had taken from the locked drawer to open the door. The room beyond was clearly a sitting room, three doors leading deeper into the suite.

The sitting room was decorated much in the same manner as the hallway before it. The room was large, probably forty feet square, the ceiling twenty feet above, not an impossible leap for a well trained shinobi. There was the requisite chandelier and an intricately woven floor rug that spanned the entire room. There was a table with several couches and well stuffed chairs in the middle of the room, tables with vases of flowers and paintings on the walls complementing the royal red of the walls and gilded cornices.

The man turned and faced the group. "This is one of the three Shinobi suites we maintain here at the Ocean Palace. As you can see, there are three bedrooms beyond this, each with a full sized bath. The doors are maple paneled steel security doors and the walls are reinforced with steel plating. The windows are composed of three layers of glass and an extremely impact, temperature, and stress resistant material. All of the windows can be opened from the inside only, by use of a seal. If you will leave your clothes out at night out complementary room service will clean your clothes and provide oil and any materials needed for weapon maintenance. There is also an alarm seal set into the wall here," the clerk said gesturing to a seal array, about a foot and a half in diameter, set into the wood beside the door, "as well as in each bathroom and by your beds. Activate the seal and an alarm will be sent to out and alert the team of shinobi we maintain here for our guests security. Finally, just pick up the telephone here," he said gesturing to the shiny black machine, "and someone from guest services will speak to you about anything you need."

Anko looked rather amused at all the services and preparations that were designed with shinobi in mind. The clerk recognized this look and smiled, bowing slightly. "You are not the first shinobi that we have had the pleasure of hosting. We take pride in being able to meet the tastes and preferences of all our guests, regardless of occupation," meaning both civilian and shinobi. "Well, if there is nothing else, I will leave you to get yourselves settled." With that he excused himself, leaving the keys to the two suites on a table by the door.

As soon as the door closed behind the uniformed man, it swung right back open. A girl, looking to be about thirteen or fourteen years old stood in the doorway. One hand was splayed against the door, the other curled into a fist at her side. She was short, maybe four-ten, five-foot. The girl had short dirty-blond hair, the right side mostly combed, bangs extending to just above her purple eyes. The left side was messier, bangs combed off to the side. Her skin was pale, like creamy milk, enhanced all the more by her dark garb. She had a long scar on the right side of her face, starting just below her eye and extending straight down under her jaw, marks from probably forty or fifty sutures at least remaining. She wore a long, wide lime green scarf around her shoulders, covering her from her strong chin to just below the shoulder, one edge dipping down to cover her chest. A sleeveless black shirt was worn, with a short undershirt of ninja mesh under that, sleeves going less than halfway to her elbow. The girl wore sensibly thick long pants, not worn fashionably low, tape attaching weapons pouches and kunai holsters to either leg. Most significantly, she did not wear a hitai-aite, instead attaching the ninja marker to her shirt over her navel.

"There you are, you damn slacker!" The thus-far unidentified Kiri-nin brought her fisted hand up to jab a delicate finger towards Daisuke. "What the hell have you been doing Daisuke-sensei? Suki and I were waiting for you for an hour to show up. I don't know where Kenji-kun is, but when I get my hands on him, he will get it, same as you." By this time the normally cheery and outgoing had flinched and retreated behind Anko, crouched down to hide. The three genin of Konoha looked at him, slightly boggled. Anko on the other hand was amused, a bad sign. She stepped to one side, hands on hip, ruby lips quirked.

"And what the fuck do you think you are doing?"

Daisuke straightened and held his hands out placatingly to the girl who appeared to be his student. "Now, now, I have an excuse. Mizukage-sama asked me to escort these people around Kiri today. They arrived with a message from their Hokage and needed a guide."

The girl scowled and crossed her arms under her scarf. She shifted her violet gaze from her sensei to the foreigners. Apparently they passed muster for she turned back to Daisuke. "You could have dropped by the training area to let us know."

"Eh, well I figured that you would get bored eventually and wander off or something. Besides I said I was sorry."

"No you didn't" the diminutive kunoichi said.

"Didn't I? Well I am. Is there a reason you were looking for me Sora-chan?"

"Mika-san is looking for you."

"Ah, well I better go see what she wants. Do me a favor and keep them company will you? They are obviously new around here and will need someone to show them around when they need a guide. Thanks!"

Her gaze never left the jounin as he slowly shuffled closer to the door, carefully staying out of range of her fists. He pushed the other door open and started to edge out. When he turned and started to run, the blond girl sprang forward and drawing a huge mallet from nowhere, smashed it into the back of his head. Her sensei collapsed bonelessly at the end of the hallway before rising and hurriedly escaping into the elevator. Naruto perked his ears as she muttered down to the sprawled man catching the words "useless bum of a sensei," among more colorful adjectives.

Suddenly realizing that the other were staring at her, she turned to face them "Hello, my name is Kaiyou Sora." She folded her hands in front of her and looked down, bowing formally. "That was my jounin-sensei, Aramaki Daisuke."

"Nice to meet you Kaiyou-san. I am Mitarashi Anko, and these are my three students, Hyuuga Hinata, Higurashi Tenten and my son, Uzumaki Naruto."

"The honor is mine Mitarashi-san." If she was in any way interested as to why her son did not share her surname, Sora hid it well. Looking over to her sensei had fled she sighed. "Seeing as Daisuke-sensei has run off, and I have nothing else to do, I can show you around the village if you wish."

Anko looked to the three genin. "Thank you for your offer, but I think we would like to unpack and settle in first." Picking up the keys the attendant left he handed one to everyone. "I don't want anyone to leave the hotel alone. We are guests here, but this is still a foreign village and it would be very bad if we were implicated in any troubles during our stay. Naruto-kun, Hinata-chan, Tenten-chan, you three will stay in this suite. Sanji-san and I will stay in the next one." Checking the marking on each key she gave each person the appropriate key.

Naruto looked around as Tenten and Hinata entered the left and right rooms to deposit their belongings. Shrugging Naruto picked up his pack and followed suit. The middle bedroom was well lit, sturdy furniture spread out. But the thing that caught Naruto's attention was the massive four poster set smack dab in the middle of the back wall.

Naruto immediately flopped his pack and took a flying leap to belly flop on the mattress. Much to his surprise he bounced up almost two feet. A bounce or three later he was able to gain his feet. When Hinata poked her head in ten minutes later Naruto was still jumping on the bed, performing acrobatics that would make a trapeze artist jealous. Naruto bounced up and tucked his arms and legs in close to his torso rotating backwards. When he landed he noticed Hinata. "Beds are fun Hinata-chan! When I get home I'm buying me one of these as the first thing I do."

"I think that one of these might be a bit out of your price range Naruto-kun."

"Bah, I'm sure they will sell one cheap to the Hokage." He stood there with one hand on his chin. Hinata blushed. His scrutiny was making her nervous. "C'mon Hinata-chan, get up here."

"Oh no Naruto-kun, I couldn't."

"Sure you can. I bet you never did anything like this at your house. Ya gotta have some fun sometimes Hinata-chan." Without waiting for her to respond he made a shadow clone and pulled her up onto the bed.. Next he started bouncing, making Hinata wobbly kneed. "Jump Hinata-chan, jump!" The blue haired girl as forced to or else lose her balance. Soon enough Hinata was bouncing around as high as Naruto.

Naruto had jumped up almost high enough to touch the ceiling to do a double front flip when something collided with him throwing off the bed. Naruto rolled a few times, wrestling with his assailant. He finally stopped and ended up on his elbows and knees over a blushing Tenten, nose to nose, barely two inches separating them. "What was that for Tenten-chan?"

"I heard you two making a commotion in here so I came to see what was going one."

"Oh." Silence.

"So are you going to let me up?" Abruptly Naruto realized how this would look were a stranger to happen upon them. Naruto set both of them on their feet in a flurry of limbs. Everyone was blushing for many of the same reasons. Shrugging off her embarrassment she jumped onto the bed. "C'mon guys," she said and soon all three were bouncing around like hyperactive monkeys on a sugar rush.

Ten minutes after that, once all three genin were mussy-haired and red faced, a fourth interloper appeared. "My my, don't we appear to be having fun?" The trio paused, Hinata being pinned by Naruto and Tenten. Naruto's coat and Hinata's jacket had been discarded early on, as well as shoes. Naruto was restraining Hinata as Tenten tickled her mercilessly. "You know, all that works a lot better without the clothes." Immediately all three genin's flaming faces increased in intensity. Even after all this time the two girls were not immune from Anko's jibes. Naruto just flipped her the bird.

"What do you want Mom?"

"Eh, I was going to see of you three wanted to see some more of Kiri. But if you are otherwise occupied..." She trailed off gesturing vaguely with one hand. Naruto was off the bed in a flash pulling his tan trench coat on while hopping on one foot attaching a sandal to the appropriate appendage.

"That's what I thought," Anko commented as the two girls put on their sandals also. Once all three were properly attired they stepped out into the sitting room Sora was still sitting in the overstuffed chair she had dragged off to one side of the room.

"You ready to leave?" Naruto jumped. He had stepped close to Sora to peer at her.

"I thought you fell asleep. You should do something to let people know you are awake you know."

Sora smiled, somehow seeming to to be an odd expression on the pale faced Mist-nin. "And not get to see you jump like I goosed you? Hell no."

"Well, we need to get out for a bit. Seeing as your sensei has yet to return, and we are in your village, I doubt it would be a good idea for us to walk around obviously unchaperoned."

"It is unlikely that Daisuke-sensei will return today. His wife will most likely have him occupied the rest of the day. Where do you wish to go?"

"We need to talk to the captain of our transport to let him know how long we will be staying here." Sora's eyes never left Anko's face the entire time she was talking. The young Kiri kunoichi had an almost disturbing air of total concentration about her, as if nothing existed for her other than the person that was speaking Naruto observed. It was more than slightly unsettling.

The trip to the docks was spent in silence. No one wanted to talk in the odd girl's presence. Anko could have easily broken the tension but watching her three wards squirm, Naruto especially, in the cool air was amusing. Finally Naruto couldn't take the atmosphere any more. He stepped up to where Sora was leading the group by herself.

"Hey there Sora-san."

"Hello Uzumaki-san," she replied.

Naruto opened his mouth to say something else when he realized that he had nothing to say. He closed it and opened it again, searching for something to make conversation with. His head swiveled, eagerly searching anything to break the silence with. He had taking note of the other pedestrians on the boardwalk in the back of his brain where all his automatic shinobi actions were processed, vaguely noting their reaction to his team's presence. He focused more closely on their response when they noticed that they were being escorted by Sora.

At first many frowned or scowled obviously wondering what a gang of Konoha-nin was doing in Kiri. Then they saw that Sora was leading the group and mellowed their expressions, many tipping a hat, if one was worn, or bowing slightly to Sora, murmuring "good day Kaiyou-sama," before continuing on their way. Naruto wondered who this girl, barely older than he was to deserve such respect.

"Hey Sora-san, who are you?"

She looked back at him without comprehending. "I am Kaiyou Sora, I already introduced myself though."

"I mean, why do all these people greet you so kindly and call you Kaiyou-sama?"

"Oh, that is easy. It is because I am the Sanbi Jinchuuriki. The Three Tailed Turtle, Leviathan, is sealed inside me."

Naruto stumbled, almost landing on his face before he recovered. Everyone shot him a glance at his reaction, Sora's wary, Tenten and Hinata's curious, and Anko worried. Naruto had never met another Jinchuuriki before, and seeing how his Kiri counterpart was well liked and respected could bode ill for his opinion of the Konoha villagers. "You are really a Jinchuuriki?"

"Yeah, what of it? You expect me to have horns and a forked tongue?" Sora had crossed her arms again and was scowling at him.

"No no, nothing of that sort. I just heard that most Jinchuuriki have some kind of birthmark that associates them with their beast."

"Oh, well I do. Wanna see?"

"Sure," Naruto responded immediately.

Sora unwound the scarf that hid her neck and shoulders and then pulled the back of her shirt up so that the others could see. Her back was covered in what appeared to be grey-green plates, each one about the size of a hand. "May I touch your back?" Naruto asked, to be immediately squawked at by Tenten for asking such a rude question.

"Go ahead," Sora said. Tentatively Naruto felt her skin. Surprisingly it felt normal, not the least bit scaly or hard.

"Wow," he said.

"Yeah I get that a lot. Most people expect it to be hard and scaly, but it's completely normal," she said while lowering her shirt and rewinding her scarf about her shoulders.

Naruto remained unusually silent the rest of the day, barely saying anything as Anko talked to Captain Domon, telling him that they would be ready to leave tomorrow. Sora was unfailingly polite, though she showed much pleasure in giving the Konoha ninja around town. Sora pointed out the four fountains that were carved into the likenesses of the Mizukages, past and present, spewing water from their mouths, that were built on the outside edge of the main plaza of Kirigakure.

Hinata was worried about the boy. He had barely noted anything that Sora had shown them, and only ordered three bowls of beef ramen for lunch. There was something about Sora that Naruto identified with that Naruto seemed to be slightly jealous of. For the life of her, she could not figure it out. The only link between Sora and Naruto that Hinata could think of was that they were both ninja. Naruto obviously didn't know her prior to today, but had seemed shocked when she revealed herself to be a Jinchuuriki right out of the blue. Hinata eventually gave it up as a bad job, figuring it had something to do with the secret that Anko couldn't tell.

Naruto was still alarmingly sedate that evening at dinner, this time not at the Motoko's ramen stand but at a barbecue joint suggested by Sora. At this point Tenten was starting to become worried also. The two girls excused themselves to the bathroom and held a conference there, safely away from the rest of the group.

"I think this has something to do with the s-secret that Anko said she c-couldn't reveal to me on the w-way here."

"I agree, but what could that secret be? Naruto seemed to be jealous of the way that the Kiri villagers treated Kaiyou-san with respect."

"I haven't a c-clue. Maybe it's j-just that she has a d-demon in her and is pretty well l-liked while he is treated like c-crap at home for n-no reason."

"Perhaps," Tenten said, conceding the point. "But what should we do now?"

"I-i don't know. Maybe A-anko-sensei will have and i-idea."

"I dunno. Well, let's talk about this more later. Everyone will be wondering where we have gone."

"Hai," Hinata answered.

The rest of the meal was spent with Anko and Sora making light chatter, Naruto and Hinata each too absorbed in themselves to make much conversation, and Tenten watching each to talk to Anko or Sora. The trip back to the hotel was mostly silent. Sora was about to bid them goodnight in front of their rooms when Naruto spoke up for the first time in hours.

Sora-san, Mom, can I talk to you both for a minute?"

"Sure thing Naruto-san."

Naruto turned to his two female teammates. "I'm sorry, but could I ask you to go inside?"

"Y-yes, Naruto-kun." Hinata grabbed Tenten by the bicep and pulled her inside.

"What was that about Hinata? Don't you want to find out what they are talking about?"

"I am sure that if it is i-important, N-naruto-kun will l-let us know." Hinata went into her room and closed the door. Tenten shook her head and put an ear to the door, hoping that she would be able to hear their conversation. Alas, it was not to be. Either they were talking too quietly to hear or they had moved somewhere else, she could hear a thing. Sighing in disappointment, she went to her room to take a bath.

Anko had pulled both Sora and Naruto into the sitting room of her and Sanji's suite. He was not there for the moment, so it was safe. "So what did you want to speak to me about?" Sora asked.

"You said that you were the Sanbi Jinchuuriki. Well, the thing is, so am I. I am the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, holding the Kyuubi no Kitsune in my seal."

"Ah, I see. And you were shocked about how well I am liked here." Naruto pulled an expression of confusion at how she knew what he wanted to talk about. "The Mizukage keeps track of all the Jinchuuriki and their status you know. We knew that the Yondaime Hokage had created a Jinchuuriki out of the Kyuubi before he died, and I know how crappy your life has been. You want to know what I did that made Kiri like me so much." Naruto nodded, speechless.

"Well, it is nothing I did, but rather the circumstances revolving around the sealing of the Sanbi no Kame. From what I understand, the Kyuubi was sealed in you because it was attacking Konoha, and sealing it was the only way of defeating it. The Sanbi was sought out and captured before bing sealed into several hosts before me. Traditionally, being able to produce a child to house the Sanbi is a great honor."

Naruto averted his gaze and curled his fingers into fists. "It's not fair," he growled.

"I agree," Sora said easily. "However, the question is whether or not you will be able to ignore their hate and become a true ninja, or let them drag you down and prove everything that they have said about you right?"

Naruto didn't know how to respond to this. "Well, I think I have left you enough to think about for one evening. I will leave you to think about what I have said." Anko nodded at the young kunoichi as she left. She had been thinking about making a similar speech to Naruto for some time but the right opportunity had never come up. Now she was glad that she hadn't gotten to talk to him about it. She was sure that it could mean more to him coming from another Jinchuuriki than anyone else, even if she was his mother. Naruto got up and walked to the door silently.

"Naruto," Anko called out.

"I'll be okay Mom. I just need to think." Anko nodded and lowered the hand she had raised.

"Just don't forget that there are people that care about you, your teammates among them. You will have to tell them at some point."

"I know. I just want to go as long as I can before doing so. I would hate to lose them because of that bastard fox."

"I don't think you give Hinata and Tenten enough credit there."

"Goodnight Mom." He closed the door behind him softly. Fortunately, neither Hinata nor Tenten were in the sitting room when he entered, so he was able to go to his room and flop down in his bed without being disturbed. His mind was buzzing with all the things that Sora had said to him. Why was it that she was respected for the same burden that he was hated for?

The next morning had Naruto bouncing all over the room with excess energy, more than ready to get going. Anko eyed him warily. This was a huge change from the weary listlessness that he had displayed last night. She knew he couldn't be as fine as he appeared so resolved to talk to him about it the first chance she got.

Daisuke appeared at about nine o'clock to pick them up to go to the Mizukage's Tower. He and Naruto held a long conversation again about the merits of various types of noodles before departing at the doors to the office of the Mizukage.

"Ah, Mitarashi-san, good morning to you." The Mizukage seemed to be the same as she had last time. She handed over the sealed scroll which held his response to the Hokage's invitation. "I am honored that the Hokage would invite a village that was previously known as the Bloody Mist to the Chunin Exams held in his own village. I will most certainly be sending any genin that have a chance at promotion to the Exams this year."

"The Hokage will be pleased to know that you have accepted, Mizukage-dono."

"Well, I know that you have a long trip ahead of you, so don't let me keep you waiting."

"Thank you for your hospitality during our stay here. Goodbye ma'am." And as quick as that the five Konoha citizens were back on the deck of _Spray, _heading home.

OoOoO

It was now eight days after they had departed Kirigakure and two since they left Captain Domon and _Spray _at Port City. All three genin had been training furiously during that time, getting themselves acquainted with their weapons. Each now had a passing familiarity with both their sealed state swords and their released shikai. They were by no means masters, but at least they no longer wielded their respective weapons with the long clumsy blows that are used by newbie swordsmen.

Naruto in particular was very adept at trapping his opponent in his illusions, much to Tenten's ire, although Hinata could still zap him if he wasn't careful and tried it on her when she struck with her Lightning Grip.

Hinata had showed a remarkable aptitude for mixing her Lightning Grip in with her Jyuuken, and then using her shikai to refresh her teammates. She would probably be an excellent battlefield medic one day.

The group was making camp that evening when a piercing shriek was heard. Everyone looked up to see a brown hawk circle the clearing they were in before descending. Anko held up an arm for the hawk to land on. Reaching over with her unoccupied hand, she opened the leather envelope that was attached to the hawk's back, withdrawing the paper inside. When she had closed the envelope again, the hawk took off.

The three genin eagerly crowded around Anko wanting to know what was going on. Well, Naruto crowded, Tenten hovered, and Hinata waited a few feet away. Anko grimaced as she read the letter. "It seems that Kakashi's team has run into some trouble on a C-turned-A-rank mission. He has requested backup, and we have been tapped."

Sanji of course protested. "What about me? You are supposed to be guarding me all the way back to Konoha, you can just abandon me here!"

Anko leered at him. "Well that is what this letter is telling us to do. Read it for yourself." She tossed the letter to the panicking courier. Turning to her students she said "the Wave Country is not far from where we are now. We could probably make it there tomorrow before noon if we are up early and move quickly." Everyone continued to ignore the protesting courier in the background.

OoOoO

It was about eleven o'clock the next day. Kakashi was in the back room recovering from his battle with Zabuza and the other ninja. Sakura, Kiba and Sasuke were in the front room just discussing talking with Tazuna about the situation in Wave, about how Gato rose to power so quickly and why no one wanted to resist him. When there was a knock on the door, everyone froze and the Team Seven genin tensed and drew weapons, ready to fight. Sasuke padded up to the door and opened it quickly to see who it was. He was surprised to see Team Nine, standing there. Everyone just stood there for a moment until Kiba broke the silence by shouting "what the hell are you guys doing here?"

"Well, we are here to save yo' mangy asses," Naruto replied with a cocky smile.

"Well, you can go back home because we have the situation well in hand." That of course was the ever-stolid Uchiha.

"I seriously doubt that. The report said that you were facing two A-rank missing-nin, and that you barely got away before." Sasuke scowled.

"But we did beat them," Sakura said.

"The way that the report read, it was mostly Ero-Kakashi's doing." Anko finally decided to butt into the conversation, deciding that Naruto couldn't have all the fun in taunting the Team Seven genin.

"What is this report that you keep mentioning?" Akamaru was quivering, picking up on his master's irritation.

"The report I sent back to Konoha." Kakashi was in the doorway, leaning on his crutches. "Come on in please. I will brief you on the situation."

Naruto pushed past Sasuke into the room, followed by Tenten, Hinata and Anko. Tsunami and Tazuna didn't react to the three genin's appearances because they didn't know them. Anko was in her usual outfit of ninja mesh shirt, short skirt, and tan trench coat. Hinata was wearing the dark jacket she had bought back in Konoha and a pair of black capris. Tenten wore a dark red Chinese-style shirt covered in hand-sized pockets for her weapon scrolls. Naruto was wearing a black long sleeved tunic with a brown leather belt over it and his white pants, octagonal greaves over the pants and steel soled geta giving him another two or three inches. Over all that he had a shin-length trench coat with the Uzumaki swirl on the back, nine silhouetted tails wrapping around the outside. But Sakura, Kiba and Sasuke stared at their weapons, katana and rapier hanging off Tenten and Hinata's hips and Naruto's over-long katana in a red sheath with another red cord to hand it diagonally over his back.

"Hey dobe, what is up with that massive sword and your katanas?"

"Oh, it is for us to know and you _not _to find out."

"There is no way that you actually use that sword Naruto." Sakura snorted in derision.

"Oh, and why not?"

"Well, several things. First, the hilt is too short. You would have to have a lot more strength than you do right now to swing that thing. Two, the sword is almost as big as you are. Three, that monstrosity has to weigh a ton."

"How much you wanna bet that I can use Kitsune?"

"You even named that toy? How Freudian."

"Hey, don't call him a toy."

"Whatever. Like I said, its just for looks."

Naruto reached over his shoulder and grasped the hilt. He drew the silvery blade from the saya in a single smooth motion. He held the blade straight out with one hand, arm not quivering the teeniest bit. "Are you sure it is just for looks?"

"You swung that thing too lightly. It obviously isn't steel."

Naruto lowered his sword so that he was leaning on it. "Well if you say so." He then turned to Kakashi. "So what happened to you Ero-Kakashi?"

Kakashi made his way to the table where he sat down, gesturing for Team Nine to do so as well. Anko folded her legs under her as she sat down and Naruto, Tenten and Hinata unhooked their katanas and laid them down by their sides as they sat. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me Ero-Kakashi?"

"More times than you can say in your life. I call the Hokage Grandpa Sarutobi, what makes you think that I am going to give you more respect than him?"

"Well, at least you are consistent. Tazuna is a bridge builder here in Wave Country and is trying to build a bridge that will connect the island to the continent. The thing is that Gato of Gato Trade and Shipping Enterprise has set his sights on this place. If Tazuna were to finish the bridge, it would break Gato's monopoly on trade here. So to prevent that from happening, he has hired some missing-nin to off Tazuna. I was able to fight to a stalemate with Zabuza, but then we had to retreat when I ran out of chakra. Gato also has a number of mercenary camps spread out over the island that we need to take of. Obviously, with only myself and my genin, we did not have enough manpower to complete the mission. So I sent back to Konoha for reinforcements. What I need to know is your skill level so I can know how to use you effectively."

At that Anko took offense. "Hey, who said that we are under your command?"

"I say it as the ranking officer here. Not to be condescending, but you are only a tokubetsu jounin, while I am a full jounin. And even if you were a full jounin I still outrank you as I retain my ANBU Captaincy, even though I am inactive as such. So you and your genin will follow my orders. What I want to do is have your genin spar with mine to compare skills."

Naruto and Anko exchanged a glance, as did Tenten and Hinata when they saw their glance. More secrets it seemed.

Kiba, Sakura and Sasuke saw this and were thoroughly mystified.

"I apologize Kakashi, but I cannot comply with that order in regards to Naruto."

Kakashi was seriously getting annoyed with Anko now. "I though I had just explained this. Why can't you comply?"

"What is your security clearance?"

"Alpha jounin, why do you need to know?"

"Good. We need to talk in the next room please." Kakashi nodded slowly, and went into the next room with Naruto and Anko. Kiba, Sakura and Sasuke looked questioningly to the two newcomers.

"Don't look at us," Tenten told them. "It's been like this since day one with those two." Tazuna stared off into space, having gotten lost thirty seconds into the conversation and Tsunami had disappeared unnoticed somewhen.

Several minutes later Kakashi, Anko, and Naruto reemerged from the next room. "Alright everyone, lets go outside." Kakashi lead the two groups to a small clearing not far from the house.

"First off, Hinata versus Sakura."

Hinata drew her sword from its scabbard. Sakura objected to this. "Hold on a moment, I thought this was to be a spar? How come she can use her sword?"

"Don't worry Sakura-chan. I promise that Hinata will go easy on you," Anko said in a condescending tone. Scowling Sakura set herself into a taijutsu stance where she would be able to dodge quickly. When the spar started, Hinata settled into an aggressive stance, body in line with her rapier, most of her weight on her back foot, ready to leap forward at a moments notice. Sakura, noticeably nervous decided to test her opposites skill with her rapier. She charged, left fist chambered to release a powerful left hook (for her at least) only to have Hinata bounce forward off her back foot to slap the flat of her sword across the inside of Sakura's extended arm, raising a red welt and drawing a thin line of blood. Sakura immediately retreated several paces to think. Thirty seconds later, Sakura formed the four seals that were required for the Clone Technique, the single Sakura suddenly flanked by three more.

Hinata didn't respond to this move instead sheathing her rapier to the confusion of Team Seven until she started forming hand seals. Fortunately, Kakashi did not seem to have given his students much combat tactics training, because Sakura allowed Hinata to complete the fourteen seal combination required to activate her Bloodline Limit. Anko scowled and made a note to mention this deficiency to their jounin-sensei after her students had thoroughly thrashed his. Hinata slammed her hands together in the final seal and cried "Byakugan!" Sakura winced, just now realizing her mistake. There was very little chance of her winning now. Regardless, she set herself to attack Hinata as Hinata drew her sword again.

However, Hinata didn't attack with her sword instead murmuring, "close the flesh, Minazuki," just loud enough for everyone to hear. Sasuke opened his mouth to comment about that being a retarded battlecry or something, when her sword melted, but instead of dripping to the ground, it flowed backwards, blade, cross guard and hilt until it was a black gauntlet that covered her entire forearm, an empty gauge set into the middle. At the same time, the strange clothes that Naruto had grandiosely dubbed the Garment of Dead Souls.

Team Seven looked at Hinata with obvious shock. Kakashi, master of over a thousand jutsus had never heard of a technique that altered the form of a weapon with a verbal phrase and no hand seals as well as the materialization of her new clothes. Sasuke swore mentally and immediately activated his Sharingan.

"Hold on Hinata-chan, Sasuke has his Sharingan on. Kakashi-san, tell your student to shut it off."

"What, why do I can't I watch with my Sharingan?"

"Because I don't want you to steal my student's techniques."

"I don't care, I need as many jutsus as I can learn."

"And why is that?"

"Because I have to kill my brother and avenge my clan."

"So, just because you want to kill one man, everyone else has to work hard to master jutsu so you can watch it once and copy it?"

"I am the best, and I deserve the best."

"You arrogant little snot nosed brat, I am ordering you to deactivate your dojutsu now."

"You aren't my teacher."

"But I am a superior officer. I will tell you again, as a superior officer, I am ordering you to deactivate your Sharingan and leave it off for the remainder of the spars."

Sasuke folded his arms and stared at her, tomoe whirling. Kakashi hobbled over to his prized pupil and whispered something in his ear. The scowl melted from his face, and the red bled from his iris.

"Thank you. But next time you disobey a direct order from me, I will be sure to have you up on charges."

"I am the last Uchiha. The council would never condone such an action."

"Oh yeah? Well, what are you going to do when the council is not around?" Sasuke said nothing and Anko smirked and walked back to where Sakura and Hinata were still poised. Anko was about to start the spar when a motion from Kakashi caught her attention. Kakashi had taken one hand from his crutches and was holding his hitai-aite that covered his Sharingan eye.

Anko rounded on him next, rage blazing in her features. "I fucking swear to god, if you fucking expose that god damned eye, I will take my students and leave you here to deal with your mess, and fuck the consequences.

Naruto was becoming alarmed. Anko was nearing the danger point with her temper. She got mad quite often, but she was trembling and her fingers were twitching, and that meant she was on a hair trigger right now. If Kakashi so much as _breathed _wrong, he was sure she would attack him. Naruto doubted that the former ANBU would be able to deal with a berserking Anko in his current state. Fortunately, he seemed to recognize the danger and dropped his hand. Naruto let out an explosive sigh. Tenten and Hinata were amazed; they had never seen this side of their teacher. Sasuke, Sakura and Kiba were struck dumb. They had never seen anyone get mad at the Uchiha heir or the Hatake prodigy like that. Anko turned back to Sasuke. "If you even _think _about activating your Sharingan and trying to steal _any _of my students techniques, I will slit your throat. Capiche?"

The clearing rang with the deafening silence. No one, not even Naruto dared to say a word, for fear of setting the clearly unstable woman off. Anko rounded on Hinata. "Beat this bitch bad Hinata."

"Hai, Anko."

"START!"

Sakura fled before the other kunoichi. This was not the Hinata she remembered from the Academy. That Hinata had been soft spoken, meek, and weak willed. This Hinata was coming at her with the intent to kill. Sakura, terrified, tried every evasive maneuver she knew to try to lose the girl but it was not happening. She had just kawarmied with a log away from a slash from that clawed gauntlet when something hard struck her in the back of the head. She stumbled forward, dazed. Slowly she reached back and felt blood on her hands. Hinata strode into view and drew back her gauntlet. She could hear Kakashi shouting but ignored him, swiping her hand across Sakura's torso.

Sakura fell forward, shock painted on her face. She couldn't believe that Hinata had clawed her like that. She put a hand to her chest and looked at it, a unnerving amount of blood leaking out. Kakashi was at her side, examining the wound. He looked up when a passionless Hinata told him to move. Kakashi prepared to launch into the other genin for critically injuring a fellow Konoha-nin in the middle of a mission.

"Move so I can heal her."

"What? You already know healing techniques? Impossible."

"I assure you I do, although not in the manner you think." Hinata jabbed her gauntlet forward again. But instead of hurting her again, she placed her palm over the four gashes. It was then that Kakashi noticed that the gauge on her forearm was glowing green. The green faded to red as Hinata swept her palm over Sakura repairing all the damage.

"There, good as new."

Next, Tenten stepped up to the plate facing off against Kiba. Kiba's face was twisted in anger, his puppy growling in what attempted to be a menacing manner.

"Your teammate hurt mine, so now I will do the same to you."

"As if you could." Tenten drew her sword. She gripped the hilt in one hand, the other hovering palm down a few centimeters over the pommel. "Spread your wings, Shrieking Fang." As she said this, she passed her free hand over her sword, pommel to point. As her hand passed over it, the sword rippled, morphing into something else. The hand that had been holding the sword hilt was now holding a pair of pure white tessen.

Kiba hesitated a moment. That tessen worried him. If Tenten was anything at all like this new Hinata, he would have to be careful or end up getting brained. He decided to test her skill with her weapon first. He charged straight in, turning it into a feint a quarter second before a tessen struck him in the face.

She pulled back on the chain and whirled it in a vertical circle, waiting for him to make the next move. Frowning, he decided that he could not risk drawing this out any further than absolutely necessary. So he went for his trump technique. He performed the requisite seals and he and Akamaru turned into horizontal tornadoes, which Tenten easily evaded. Ducking low, she generated a gust of wind to deflect him over her and struck Kiba on the head, knocking him out.

Finally it was Naruto versus Sasuke. As the pair squared off, Naruto tossed his sheathed blade to Anko. "Don't worry I wont need him to beat your mangy ass."

"Naruto, go all out on this little prick. Watch for his Sharingan."

"I know Mom." With that he settled into a stance, giving a 'come hither' motion with a hand. This annoyed the explosive Uchiha, and he bum rushed the blond, confidant that his Sharingan would be able to give him the victory. He was sorely surprised however when Naruto ducked his high punch, vanishing for a moment before burying his fist in Sasuke's gut.

"You know you can give up any time you like."

"No way am I going to be beaten by the dobe of the academy." Sasuke whiffed Naruto once again, and got a fist in the mouth for his trouble.

"I will have you know, that the entire time I was in the Academy, I was pretending to be someone I was not. I am not the dobe of the Academy, and I never was. The entire time was an act, one that no one had ever suspected in six years of attendance. After all, a dobe is a dobe. Who would expect him to be smart enough to hide his skills. You know, for all the stealth, intelligence and counter-intelligence training that they give us, all that preaching about looking underneath the underneath, they never practice what they preach. It is sad really."

He said all this while he was evading Sasuke. He had folded his hands behind his back, ducking and dodging. Sasuke was getting seriously pissed right about now. He was the Last Loyal Uchiha, Rookie of the Year, and here was this blond moron making a fool out of him. Sasuke narrowed his Sharingan eyes, tomoe whirling rapidly. Giving a final one-two punch that whiffed completely, he back flipped away from Naruto. Once he was an appropriate distance away, he formed six seals, ending in the tiger seal, brought it up to his mouth and exhaled mightily, name of the technique lost in the roaring of the flames. A veritable firestorm leaped forth, faster than Naruto was able to react. The flames immediately obscured the blond shinobi from view. Sasuke held it for a good five seconds before running out of breath. When the massive stream of fire petered out, there was nothing but a scorch mark thirty feet long, no sign of Naruto. Sasuke smirked, thinking that he had finally bested Naruto.

"That was a really cool jutsu Sasuke-bastard." Sasuke whirled to face a completely unharmed and unfazed Naruto.

"How?"

"Shadow clone."

Sasuke grimaced. Of course he would claim to know a jounin level technique. It was more likely that he had made a regular clone or kawarmied. Regardless, he had evaded his Great Fireball Technique. Sasuke was running low on chakra now. The Great Fireball Technique was only a C-rank jutsu, but it was expensive as hell.

Naruto grinned. "Wanna see what I can do? Watch this." Naruto lashed out with a foot catching Sasuke off guard and whipping Sasuke around to land face down in the dirt with his round house. Quickly before he could recover and look back, Naruto formed the cross seal and created a dozen shadow clones. The twelve Naruto copies charged Sasuke who easily dispelled them. However, their objective was completed. Naruto formed the last seal for the Wind Release: Great Breakthrough. Crying the name and exhaling hard, the hurricane-force wind caught the Uchiha Heir and slammed him against a tree across the clearing. He was held there for a pair of seconds before Naruto ran out of breath, and he collapsed at the base of the tree. Kakashi rushed over to examine his protege. He winced. Several ribs fractured and a concussion. The spar was over.


	8. Spontaneous Action and Careful Plans

**Chapter Eight: Spontaneous Action and Careful Plans**

Hinata healed Sasuke and then everyone retreated back to Tazuna's house to regroup. Once they were secluded in the back room Kakashi spoke. "Alright, um, so it's gonna take me at least another five days to recover from my chakra exhaustion, so for the intervening time, Anko will take temporary control of Team Seven."

The genin members of Team Seven took this pretty well, only moderate scowls exchanged. "Well, then why don't we get to training. No sense in wasting any more time than necessary. It's gonna take some serious work to get you three anywhere near the level you should be." Anko ignored the glare that the cyclopean jounin sent her way. "Follow me."

After looking for approval from Kakashi, Sasuke, Kiba and Sakura followed. Anko led them to the clearing that they were at just a few minute prior. Anko leaned against a tree facing Team Seven. "Alright, it is clear that Kakashi has been neglecting your training if your spars were any indication of your skill levels. I want to know everything you know, ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu as well as anything else. "You go first," Anko stated pointing to Sasuke.

"Well, I know the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique, Fire Release: Phoenix Fire Immortal Technique, Shadow Shuriken Technique, as well as Clone Technique, Replacement Technique, Escape Rope Technique, and Transformation Technique. Also I have some skill in my family's taijutsu, the Intercepting Fist."

"Well, you seem to have a decent number of fire techniques there. I might want to see exactly how much you know of your family's taijutsu later though. Anyways, you next Sakura."

Sakura blushed slightly and ducked her head. "Um, well, I know the Academy basics like Sasuke-kun and the Academy taijutsu. And that's about it."

Anko raised an eyebrow at Sakura. "Are you joking? Do you mean to tell me that you have been a genin for over two months, and Kakashi hasn't taught you a single ninjutsu?"

"Well, we have been working on team building exercises mostly."

Anko facepalmed. "Well, it's only a little worse than I had expected. Please tell me you got more than Sakura does Kiba."

"Yeah, I got plenty of stuff. I got the Piercing Fang, Dual Piercing Fang, Beast Human Clone, and the Four Legs Technique, the Clawed Fist, my clan's taijutsu, as well as the Academy stuff."

"Good. Though all your stuff is clan techniques, which means that Kakashi hasn't taught you anything either. Great." Anko rested her face in her palm a minute, battling the urge to rip Kakashi a new one. Honestly, what the hell was the man thinking? Sasuke and Kiba weren't too bad off, at least they had clan techniques to draw on, but as important as the Academy basics were, the fact that that was all Sakura knew was almost certainly going to get her killed.

"Well, lets see how your chakra-"

"Hold on, what about your students? They know all our abilities, but we know nothing of theirs." Sasuke had crossed his arms across his chest. He did not appreciate his skills being so grossly undervalued. Anko sent him a piercing glare.

"Watch it runt. For now I am your jounin-sensei and you will accord me the respect that I deserve. However, I do see your point. Naruto, you first."

"Sure thing Mom. Well, lets see. I know the Shadow Clone Technique as well as the Mass Shadow Clone Technique, Sexy Technique, Harem Technique, Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, and Wind Release: Pressure Bullet Technique and of course the Academy stuff. Finally I got my custom kenjutsu with Kitsune, my katana."

"Um, I know the Jyuuken. Also, I have two ninjutsu, Lightning Release: Lightning Grip and Lightning Release: Lightning Blast. Finally, I have basic proficiency with my sword and mastered Minazuki's shikai."

At this, the members of Team Seven exchanged a confused look. Minazuki was the name she had given her sword obviously, so was that transformation what she was talking about? Before anyone could ask, Tenten spoke.

"So I am proficient with all ranged weapons and most melee weapons. I know four jutsu, Earth Release: Earth Style Wall and Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique, Summoning Technique and Twin Rising Dragons. Finally, I have also mastered Shrieking Fang's shikai."

Again Team Seven assumed she was talking about the second form her sword had taken. "Well, lets see how your chakra control is. I want each of you to scale one of these trees thirty times each."

Team Seven looked at Anko in surprise before Kiba jumped up and swung onto the lowest branch of a nearby tree. "Stop, what are you doing?"

"Uh, climbing the tree, Anko-sensei."

"Please tell me that Kakashi-idiot at least showed you the tree climbing and water walking exercises."

"Uh, what do you mean Anko-sensei?" Sakura looked totally bewildered.

"Alright. Kill Kakashi later. Train his students now," Anko muttered. "Okay, what you are going to do is climbing a tree without using your hands. And before you complain let me explain." Sakura closed her mouth. "What you gotta do is channel chakra to the soles of your feet, which, incidentally, is the hardest place to do so. This will refine your control and eventually expand your chakra coils. Don't forget to use a kunai to mark how high you have climbed up."

Kiba, Sasuke and Sakura each drew a kunai from their holsters. Sasuke made it three steps before he was blasted backwards, managing to catch himself in a handspring. "Oh yeah, you gotta get it just right, or else you wont stick. That could hurt of you're fifty feet up." Sakura went next, making it all the way to the crown of the tree the first try.

"Well, that is about what I expected from you. I heard that you have near perfect control, but that is probably because you have the smallest chakra pools of anyone here. It is easy to control your chakra when you got almost none. Keep climbing. It'll get your reserves up."

Finally it was Kiba's turn. He made it about twenty paces before he slipped and scored the tree. "Not bad Kiba-kun. You seem to have about average control. Your only problem is maintaining it over an extended period of time. Well, you know what you need to do. I'll be back at about lunch to check up on you. Keep climbing until then."

As Anko turned to gather her own students up, Sasuke addressed her. "Where are you going?"

"Are you stupid? I am going to go train my own students now. They mastered this exercise a week after graduation. There would be no point in making them practice it."

"Well, I'm coming with you then. This isn't getting me any closer to achieving my goal. I need to learn all the jutsus that I can learn."

Anko rounded on the black haired boy, getting annoyed. "Alright, listen up maggot. I am going to say this once. You are not my student. I am merely subbing for Kakashi-idiot. So there is nothing I _have _to teach you, and certainly not anything that my team is learning. My team has been working their asses off ever since graduation, and they have earned a bit of my respect and trust. Because of that they get to learn jutsu from me. You on the other hand, I don't know at all, and therefor have not earned the right to learn from me. Plus I just don't like Uchihas. You are all thieves, one and all. Just because you got a special eye that automatically entitles you to benefiting from everyone else's hard work while offering none of your own." With that, she turned away from the stunned Uchiha Heir and left the clearing.

He was the Last Uchiha. No one spoke to him like that. Scowling he tightened his grip on the kunai in his fist and launched himself at the tree. He was an Uchiha, the best. He deserved nothing less. He would master this and then force Anko to teach him all she knew.

Anko led her son and his teammates to another clearing nearby. "Naruto, establish a perimeter a hundred yards beyond the edge of the clearing with your Shadow Clone Technique. I don't trust that damn Uchiha. He will probably try to sneak over here to copy what I am going to teach you with that eye of his. God I hate Uchihas. Or anyone with a bloodline that feels like it entitles them to the world for that matter."

Tenten sat down on the ground and waited for Anko to finish ranting. When the crowd of Naruto clones ran off Naruto joined her and Hinata on the ground before Anko. "Alright, before I show you today's jutsu, we need to talk about the fight on the way to Kirigakure. I have to say that I am somewhat disappointed in you three. You three were facing completely unknown opponents and didn't even take it seriously. For all you know, they could have killed you in the first five minutes. Screwing around like that is the kind of shit that gets you and your teammates killed. Hinata and Tenten, you two did alright, breaking out the Jyuuken and your scrolls fairly quickly. Naruto, from what I saw, you were mostly throwing punches like a damn Academy student. That is okay for a friendly spar at home, but out here, every attack you make has to be a killing blow. I honestly thought I had trained you better than this. I hope that this will be a lesson to you three." Anko stopped to let her genin absorb what she had said before continuing.

"Okay, the technique that I am about to teach you is called the Camouflage Technique. Basically what it does is turn you invisible. It is an A-rank jutsu because it had to be maintained with a constant flow of chakra. There is a couple of weaknesses to it, namely you can still be smelled out and the chakra itself is not disguised so the Sharingan and Byakugan can pierce it, but other than that, most of the weaknesses can be mitigated or even nullified with enough skill. At first you will not be able to move at all, and only very slowly later, as the illusion cloaking you will shimmer and ripple to adjust to the altered background. On the other hand, you can mask the Camouflage Technique itself, to a degree, when you are good enough with it."

"How come Tenten and I have to learn this Mom. I mean, I can just use Kitsune to trick anyone into thinking I am not there, and Tenten can already turn herself invisible."

"Well, one, you have trouble maintaining the illusion on more than one person at a time, and it doesn't work on anyone. As for Tenten, her invisibility bubble forces her to stay in place. The Camouflage Technique doesn't."

Anko then showed them the three hand seals that were used in it and set them to practicing, pointing out flaws by throwing kunai at them, harder and closer to vital areas the worse it was. Of course, Naruto could only turn himself into a blue and black blur at first, earning a kunai to the forehead, ring first. Tenten was able to get it down to a heat wave shimmer while still and a very indistinct humanoid shape while moving. Hinata was the best off, able to completely turn herself invisible while stationary and a very bad shimmer with a grey tinge while moving.

Three hours later a very battered and weary Team Nine entered the clearing occupied by Team Seven. The three genin that were practicing their tree climbing immediately halted when they saw the condition their compatriots were in. Sakura levered herself from where she had collapsed from fatigue an hour ago. She grimaced as sore muscles protested the unwanted movement.

"What happened to you guys?" Sakura asked.

"Mom happened," Naruto grunted. "Trust me, you really don't want her personal attention. Just be glad she doesn't insist on overseeing your work personally."

"She do all that to you?" Kiba had heard rumors of the kind of training she put her genin squad through, but had never believed it, attributing it to hyperbole. Now, he wasn't so sure. Sasuke on the other hand was practically drooling. He couldn't imagine what kind of training that would inflict that many injuries. Whatever it was, it was sure to increase his power exponentially.

"Yeah, she did all this. Anko is a total sadi-OW!"

"You shouldn't talk about people behind their backs you know. It's rude." Anko licked the blood from the kunai that had cut Tenten's cheek.

"And what would you know of manners Mom?"

Anko responded by wrapping a hand around Naruto's head and giving him a noogie. "Noogie of a Thousand Years of Pain!" Anko cried. Naruto flailed around yelling at her to let him go before he reported her to Child Services. As the two female genin members of Team Nine totally ignored the mother and son pair, Team Seven decided to follow their example. If things got too serious they figured that either Tenten or Hinata would step in. Well maybe not Hinata, but Tenten probably would.

Lunch was a subdued affair with Kakashi napping in the back room, Team Nine too tired to talk and none of Team Seven in a talkative mood. After lunch Anko took Team Seven back to the clearing to continue working on tree climbing. The second day followed much in the mold of the first, Team Seven working on chakra control and Team Nine working on the Camouflage Technique. However on the third day Anko pronounced Team Seven ready to move onto the next stage of training.

"Okay, so the next part of your training is learning to walk on water. This is much the same as tree walking, except since the surface of the water constantly changes, you gotta adjust your chakra output accordingly. Trust me, it's harder than it sounds." Team Seven looked at her blankly. "Well what are you waiting for? Get to it!" Anko shouted, causing the three genin to jump. Kiba grinned confidently and charged out onto the lake, quickly followed by his familiar, Akamaru. He made it a dozen steps before he fell into the water with a great splash. He surfaced a moment later. "Holy crap! The water is COLD!"

Anko grinned mercilessly. "Well, now you have a reason not to fall in, dontcha?" With that, Anko took her leave. Sakura sat down at the bank and hesitantly lowered a foot to the surface, testing how much chakra was required to keep it afloat. Sasuke took the middle ground, walking out onto the lake, but staying in the shallows, so that when he fell in, it was only shin deep. Kiba paddled back to shore a moment later and took a minute to shiver. He took off his now waterlogged coat before trying to walk on water again.

Meanwhile, in a nearby clearing, Anko was lecturing to her team again. "The next thing I am going to teach you maggots is how to escape from genjutsu. Genjutsu kai isn't a jutsu, as such, but it is an important technique to know. The genjutsu kai enables you to escape the effects of a genjutsu, should you ever he caught in one. There are a number of ways to do it, the easiest is to cause yourself enough pain that your mind is able to break free. Now, obviously this is not necessarily the best way to do it, but if nothing else works, stabbing yourself in the leg should do the trick."

As one, Tenten, Naruto and Hinata sweat dropped. Only Anko would think that stabbing yourself to escape from a genjutsu would be a viable technique.

"The most common way is to momentarily stop your chakra circulatory system. A genjutsu works by using your own chakra against you, so if it has no chakra to work with, then it fails. Now try to suppress your own chakra completely." After giving a single demonstration, Tenten and Hinata grasped the concept extremely quickly. Naruto however, was still struggling.

"Mom, I just can't get it down all the way. When I get it down to a certain point, it feels like its trying to push through a floor." Anko mused on this for a moment, guessing it probably had something to do with the Yondaime's seal, and his prisoner.

"Well, there is a third way to do it, but it requires a lot of concentration. Additionally, it can be used on another person who either does not recognize that they are under a genjutsu, or for one reason or another, cannot escape. What you have to do is focus your chakra into a ball, pack it as tightly as you can, and then release it. The chakra pulse will momentarily disrupt any chakra construction that it comes in contact with, thereby destroying the genjutsu. Tenten used this method during the fight last week. The main reason that the chakra pulse will get rid of a genjutsu is because it is a stationary construct and it is really difficult to create a pulse that will travel far enough to retain enough energy to disrupt a ninjutsu. Its like destroying the foundation of a house to bring it down. You gotta be standing right next to it with a hammer to destroy it. But to get back on course, try to do the chakra pulse."

Tenten was able to extend the pulse only a few inches beyond her skin. After concentrating for a second or two, Hinata nearly collapsed after generating a two foot wave.

Anko almost never thought of the demon sealed within her adopted son, but as Naruto's faced scrunched up more and more as he tried to make a pulse. But as a visible haze of blue chakra built up around him, she thought she might had made a miscalculation. Anko opened her mouth to tell Naruto to stop concentrating when he released it. Anko threw up a hand to shield her face as a visible wall of chakra passed through her, making the fine hairs on her neck and arms stand up, but otherwise leaving her completely unharmed. The surrounding forest erupted as Naruto's chakra pulse upset the local wildlife, setting the birds in the trees to flight.

"Err... well..." It wasn't often that Anko was struck speechless, but this took the cake. "I suppose if you suck at chakra suppression, you would be good at chakra expression.

Tenten was looking at Naruto with a bemused expression on her face. "I suppose if one way doesn't work for you, another would work better."

Hinata nodded her furious assent. "I had my Byakugan on, and I was nearly blinded by it. That pulse was almost physically tangible Naruto-kun."

"Naruto you could probably disrupt every single genjutsu in a battle at once with that technique."

"Ours as well as theirs too Anko." Tenten was still looking slightly shell shocked. She had pushed every iota of power into her pulse, and Naruto made a freaking _wall_ of chakra, and didn't look the least bit fazed. She knew that he had nearly inhuman amounts of chakra, but she hadn't quite realized how great the difference was until just this moment. "We would have to come up with some sort of signal, but that could be an incredibly useful ability."

The next day Anko nearly broke a rib laughing when she discovered that the whole village felt Naruto's pulse, almost half a mile away, mostly with people who had never had any training in sensing chakra at all.

That night at dinner, Naruto got up to look at the sole picture hanging on the wall.

"Hey, why does it look like someone ripped part of this picture away?"

"That was a picture of my dead husband, kill a couple of years ago by Gato to serve as an example to the village as what happens when people oppose him." Tsunami had paused in collecting the dirty dishes, looking to her son, who had run from the room with sad eyes.

"Kaiza was a foreigner who had come to the village following his dreams. It started out when some kids were bullying Inari by throwing his dog in the water, and pushed him off the dock also. Kaiza rescued Inari and taught him how to smile and laugh again, which he had forgotten after his biological father's death. One time he fixed a dam during a flood by swimming against the current and tying the dam back together with some rope."

"When Gato came to the village, Kaiza resisted and was caught. He was strung up and had his arms cut off and eventually killed. Ever since then, Inari has been like you saw him. Hell, Tsunami and the entire village changed after his murder. That is why this bridge is so important. The bridge represents everything Kaiza stood for, everything that has been missing since Gato came."

Over the course of the story, Naruto started out with stars in his eyes, and then spouted waterfalls as he heard about Kaiza's death.

"That's it," Naruto announced suddenly. "I'm going to prove that in this world, heroes do exist to that little brat.

OoOoO

**Unknown location, Wave Country**

"So it looks like the big, bad Demon of the Mist got beaten like a dog and has come back to lick his wounds." This time Gato brought two of his ronin samurai with him, to try to intimidate Zabuza. "You can't even avenge your own men and you call yourself a demon."

Haku tensed as Gato's ronin loosened their sword in their scabbards, but Gato stepped forward again, reaching out to unmask Zabuza. Haku's hand flickered forward and stopped Gato's had a few inches from Zabuza's face. "Don't you touch Zabuza-san with your filthy hands."

Gato lurched back cursing as the two samurai started to draw their swords. However, Haku was faster, and disarmed them, pressing the edges of the swords against their throats. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. I'm in a bad mood."

Gato tried to show some bravado by shouting at the two nuke-nin "I'll give you one more chance. Fail again, and you are no longer welcome here. Remember that." Having said his piece, Gato and his thugs beat a hasty retreat.

"You know, you didn't have to do that."

"I know, but it is too early to kill Gato. We haven't been paid yet, after all.

OoOoO

**Next day, middle of the woods**

Naruto awoke suddenly when someone touched his shoulder. Shaking off his exhaustion, Naruto sat up and addressed the person who had awoken him. "Who're you?"

Haku introduced himself, and then got Naruto to help him collect the herbs he was looking for. "Hey, are you a ninja by any chance?"

"Oh yeah! You noticed. I was out here all night training." He gestured to the trees that had been dented and stripped of their leaves and holes in the ground.

"Why are you training?" Haku asked. "You look plenty strong already."

"Yeah I am, but not strong enough. I want to become the Hokage, the strongest ninja in my village, and to do that I gotta keep training. I also gotta prove something to someone."

"I see. So you have a precious person?"

"Yeah, lady, I got plenty. I gotta get strong for all of them."

"I am sure that you will become strong and achieve your dream. Maybe we will meet up again." Haku got up and walked away, looking over his shoulder. "Oh, and by the way, I'm a boy."

Naruto sat there stunned for a few minutes, until his stomach growled at him. He stumbled into the house half an hour later, looking like the living dead. Hinata immediately leaped up and helped Naruto to the table, piling food on his plate as fast as he consumed it. Anko and Tenten hid their smiles behind their hands as they watched as Hinata scolded Naruto for staying out all night long.

"Honestly Naruto-kun, you could catch your death from a cold by sleeping outside without any blankets at all."

"Aw, it's okay Hinata-chan. If I did get sick, I have you to make me good as new!" Hinata immediately flushed a bright red, and started swooning a moment later. Naruto recognized the signs of an impending faint, and leaped up to catch her as she collapsed into unconsciousness.

"Oops," was all Naruto had to saw with a slightly sheepish grin.

Anko rolled her eyes and gestured to Tenten. "Take her up to her room and keep an eye on her. I hate to think what would happen if she were to wake up and Naruto was leaning over her. She might get a brain aneurysm or something."

Tenten was sitting at the dinner table on the fourth day of Kakashi's recuperation, thinking. Naruto was sitting across from her, on the other side of the table, polishing his sword with a cloth. He had somehow become inextricably tangled into her thoughts over the past week. She had to admit that Naruto was becoming an extremely good looking boy, his yellow hair spiderwebbed with white and whisker marks adding to his exotic appearance. And there was also the fact that he was now a weapons, well if not master, then at least specialist along with herself and Hinata. Of course she would never date a guy just because he used a sword, but the fact that he did use one now, and an almost magical one like hers and Hinata's, held a certain allure in the young woman's mind.

Continuing to prod her food, she gazed at Hinata out of the corner of her eye. She had a pan and apron on, cooking this night's dinner. Hinata posed a problem to Tenten. She was her good friend, maybe her only one, and obviously had fallen head over heels for Naruto. But she had never made a move on the blond. But how much did she owe to Hinata? Should she try to play match maker and get the two together? Or should she go for Naruto herself? Whatever she owed the Hyuuga Heiress, didn't she owe herself to try to make herself happy?

Tenten shook herself out of her reverie by violently shaking her head. It wouldn't do to think about such things now. She smiled at Hinata as she grabbed a plate and helped herself to dinner. It was as usual, delicious. Oddly enough, that didn't improve her spirits at all. Hinata was the perfect girl, womanly figure, good at housekeeping, and a wonderful cook. How could she compete with that? Virtually everything she made came out of a box. She knew that she did not look like a man, but she was very much a tomboy, giving relatively little attention to her appearance beyond tying her hair up in her trademark twin buns. Beside Hinata she was merely ordinary as a woman. Tenten realized where her thoughts were leading her, and tried to break that chain of thought. Hadn't she said that she wasn't going to think about that? Wolfing her meal down, barely tasting anything, she excused herself early and went to bed.

Hinata may not have been the smartest kunoichi in her class, but she was the most observant, at least when it came to her Naruto-kun. She had been watching Tenten the whole evening, and had caught the surreptitious glances thrown Naruto's way. She frowned and considered Tenten's actions over the past few days. First, was her fawning over Naruto's sword, despite having her own. Second, she now referred to him with the -kun suffix. Third, she had been alternating staring at her food and Naruto-kun all night long. She had no thoughts that she was the only one allowed to call him Naruto-kun, but added with the other things, there was only one inescapable conclusion. She had a love rival.

Hinata was extremely conflicted that night. Tenten was one of her best friends, yet she had seemingly fallen for Naruto-kun. She thought back to the Academy and recalled the relationship between Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino. The two had been nigh inseparable for years, but had destroyed their friendship for the sake of pursuing Sasuke. She didn't want something similar to happen to her and Tenten, but she couldn't just stand on the sidelines as she poached her man. That thought struck her oddly for some reason. Naruto-kun wasn't dating her yet, and she still referred to him as belonging to her. She had practically worshiped him from the first time she saw him, always from afar, never able to muster the courage to express her true self to him.

Was that all she was, some creepy stalker girl that hid in the shadows? She couldn't even call herself a fan girl, like those who pursued her cousin Neji and Uchiha Sasuke, because they at least had the courage to tell the boy how they thought of him.

Hinata awoke the next morning in sweaty and tangled sheets, been tossing and turning all night. She had gotten very little rest.

She lay there for a few minutes, considering the dreams that had plagued her all night long. Naruto was always prominent in them, always facing away from her, walking away, ignoring her pleas for him to stop and turn around. Disentangling herself from her blankets, she showered and got dressed. No one was up yet, so she lit the stove from the cupboard of stove firewood found nearby. Preparing breakfast was a calming ritual for the girl; it allowed her to focus on the simple motions of the food, letting her forget her troubles, if only for a little bit.

Soon enough, her compatriots arose and joined her in the dining room, quickly followed by Team Seven and Tazuna's family. Naruto gave her a smile and greeted her with a wave.

Anko had been observing her two kunoichi the entire trip, and had divined their thoughts, more or less, on her oblivious son. She smirked evilly to herself. The poor boy wouldn't have a clue as to what hit him, when they got back home. Who knows, maybe she could set up a betting pool as to which one he would end up choosing? She was sure that Kurenai at the very least would be interested, and maybe Ibiki also. This future was looking to quite entertaining, to say the very least.

Despite her resolution to not think about Naruto, Tenten had spent most of the night dreaming about him. They weren't anything of an erotic nature (she was only twelve after all,) but Naruto was always a central factor in all of them, doing the most improbable of things, such as scaling the Hokage Rock while dragging a ten foot salmon to get to her and other Gai-slash-Lee feats of improbable strength and endurance. She woke up that morning to conclude that her subconscious was probably trying to tell her something. She lay there for a minute, slowing her heart to a pace that wouldn't make it explode if she tried to sit up. Accomplishing that task, she showered, dressed, and went down to breakfast, where she could smell the scent of breakfast.

She sat down at the table, on the same side as Naruto but with enough space for two or three people in between. She didn't want to sit right next to him after last night, but at the same time didn't want to be too far away. After everyone else had eaten Anko made an announcement.

"I talked to Kakashi last night, and he said that he will be fully recuperated tomorrow, so the six of you are at liberty for the day. Do whatever you want today because tomorrow is when the real work begins."

Tenten paused with her a fork laden with food halfway to her mouth. This was a sign. It had to be. Having those dreams and then having Anko tell them that they had the day for themselves. As sudden as that she had made her decision. When Naruto finished his meal and cleaned his plate off in the sink Tenten followed him out the door. What she did not notice was Hinata follow her out the door also.

"Naruto-kun, hold on a minute."

Naruto stopped and turned to face Tenten. "Hey Tenten-chan, what's up?"

Tenten stopped two or three feet away from him and held her hands behind her back. "Where are you going?"

"Oh, well, I'm gonna go train. I need to practice the Camouflage Technique. It's nowhere near where it has to be for me to actually use it. Mom says that you can still see my outline."

"Could you close your eyes for me please Naruto-kun?"

"Uh sure, I guess." Naruto was slightly wary of Tenten at just this moment. He had learned through harsh experience that when someone asked him to closed his eyes, it almost never meant something good, although he couldn't imagine Tenten trying to cut his ear off while he was unaware. He waited tensely for half a handful of seconds for Tenten's surprise. He was caught completely off guard when he felt Tenten's arms wrap around his neck and a soft pressure on his pursed lips a second later.

His eyes sprang open immediately to see Tenten's closed eyes less than an inch away from his own. Extrapolating from the proximity of her face he concluded that it was probably Tenten's lips on his own, therefore, Tenten was kissing him.

Now, Naruto's experience with the female gender was understandably limited. Other than his mother, Anko and Ayame, the ramen waitress, and Hinata, every other female in the village treated him with varying degrees of distaste, ranging from the adults outright hatred of him to his peers intense dislike. And it appeared that Tenten was now on the very short list of people who liked him.

Tenten held her position for another two or three seconds that lasted a lifetime before releasing him. She took a small step back and looked down the three or four inches that she had on him. "I like you Naruto-kun. I like you a lot. So, um, I was kinda wondering if you would like to go into the village with me today since Anko has given us the day off?"

Naruto didn't respond immediately. He remembered his mother's lessons on girls that she had forced him to endure. He still wasn't any good at telling what girls sometimes meant when they talked to him, but in this case, he was sure about it. "Do you mean like on a date?"

"Uh, if you want it to be."

Naruto put a finger to his chin, thinking. "Yeah, that would be nice Tenten-chan. Do you have any place in particular you wanted to go to?"

"No, not really Naruto-kun." In truth, she had not really planned for anything beyond this moment. The decision to ask him out was a spur of the moment decision, and now she had nowhere to go planned.

"Hold on a second Tenten-chan. I'll be right back." If there was one thing that Anko had pounded into his head, it was that the boy never let a girl pay for anything on a date. And seeing as how he was about to go on a date, he had to get his money.

Hinata barely managed to dive behind a bush as Naruto ran back to the house. She had situated herself a hundred yards behind the pair, far enough away that neither would sense her, but close enough that she could read their lips with her Byakugan.

She slumped down, leaning against a nearby tree trunk. She had missed her chance with Naruto. She had waited too long to try to gain his attention and now her teammate had asked him out and he accepted. She would never be able to get him now, unless they broke up.

Naruto returned to where Tenten was two minutes later, having passed his mother who was reading a scroll in the main room. She had studiously ignored what Naruto was doing back so soon, and why he needed his wallet and his and Tenten's katanas. Her knowing smirk told him that any answer he gave her would only be trouble, so he feigned deafness.

Both teenagers stood there slightly awkwardly for a few seconds before Naruto looked up with a blinding smile. Naruto had his blade strapped to his back already so he offered Tenten's sword to her, the scabbard wrapped up in the belt."So you ready to go Tenten-chan?"

"Yeah Naruto-kun," she replied, strapping the belt on and hooking Shrieking Fang on next. The pair turned and walked to the town that Tazuna's house was on the outskirts of. The town was rather crowded, many people milling about in the street, a good percentage wearing "Work for Food" signs. The teenage ninja garnered much attention, many people staring at the larger-than-life weapon on Naruto's back and everyone peeing curiously at their hitai-aite. The entire village knew that Tazuna had hired some ninja to protect him while he was working on the bridge, but no one had been in town much yet. Wave probably did not see many ninja around, so everyone was taking the chance to gawk.

Tenten walked together, shoulder occasionally bumping into the other one, looking for something to do. Unfortunately, Wave was not a prosperous nation, and as such, there were not many places to just hang out. The silence between them was getting slightly awkward and that was something that Naruto just could not abide. Taking a breath he seized Tenten's hand and pointed to a sweets shop just down the street. Turning back a bit to smile at her, he tightened the grip he hand on her hand and pulled her along until they were just outside the shop.

"Um, I know we just had breakfast, but do you want to get some dango or ice cream or something?"

Tenten really wasn't that hungry but nodded anyways. This was better than just wandering around town aimlessly. She really should have formulated some sort of plan before kissing him. It was an unexpectedly Naruto thing for her to do. He pulled her in by her hand again and found a couples booth by one of the windows. Naruto unslung Kitsune and leaned it against the outside edge of the table. Tenten followed Naruto's example and unhooked Shrieking Fang and rested it next to Kitsune. They were only sitting there in silence for a minute or two, ignoring the dozen pairs of eyes then and the not-so-hushed whispers about their apparent age and swords before a waitress came by.

"Hello, welcome to Shizuku-san's Sweets Shop Shinobi-sama, Shinobi-sama. My name is Otoha. How may I help you today?" She laid down an over sized piece of laminated paper in front of Tenten and Naruto, trying to discreetly look at the hitai-aite on their foreheads. If they were civilian it might have gone unnoticed, but they were well-trained shinobi. It was a menu.

"Um, well, we're new around here, and were just wandering around and saw this place. What would you recommend Otoha-san?" Naruto concealed a wince at how expensive all the food was. It seemed that Gama-chan was going on an enforced diet soon.

"Well, the mochi ice cream is very good, as is the anmitsu and melonpan."

Naruto nodded and perused the menu before passing it to Tenten. Tenten looked up and said "I think I am going to go with the sata andagi, please."

"Mochi ice cream for me then," Naruto said next. Otoha smiled and took the menu, saying that she would be back shortly. The silence started to stretch again, neither one could think of something to say. Tenten was just nervous, plus this was not exactly her dream date. Naruto was feeling out of his depth. He had very little experience dealing with girls, and he knew it. Naruto was racking his brain, trying to think of something to say to break the silence, so he said the first thing that came into his head.

"So, uh, what do you think of Team Seven?" Naruto winced immediately. He was on a date with Tenten and here he went talking about work.

"I kinda feel sorry for them."

That piqued Naruto's curiosity. "Really? Why is that?"

"Well, they seem to have gotten a really lazy teacher. Hatake-san is supposed to be one of the strongest jounin in the village, but he doesn't seem to be a very good teacher."

"I guess so. Although I think it's Sasuke-bastard getting his just desserts."

"Yeah, it was pretty amusing to see you take him down a couple pegs. Honestly, I could never figure out what all the other girls saw in him."

"I know, really. I mean, he has hair that looks like a duck's ass glued to his head, and he's so broody and mad all the time."

"I think that a lot of the other girls see him as a wounded soul, or something."

"What? A wounded soul?"

"Err... never mind. It's a girl thing."

"I guess. But he thinks he is so great just because he is an Uchiha."

"Well, for a long time the Uchihas were the greatest clan in the village."

"Yeah, only because they have that freaky eye-thing."

"The Sharingan."

"Yeah, whatever. But he does seem to know some really cool Fire Release jutsu. I swear, they are so totally wasted on him. I would use them better than he ever could I bet."

"What for? Pranking the village?"

"Hell yeah! Just imagine being able to set the teachers butt on fire when he isn't looking."

Tenten giggled slightly at that, visualizing Mizuki-sensei hopping about while Iruka-sensei tried to put him out. "That would be pretty funny."

"Hell yeah. Or if I were to put gas all over the hair of the Hokage's carved into the Hokage Rock and set it on fire." A smile split his face at the mental image of a flaming Yondaime head. Naruto quickly shoveled several spoonfuls of his ice cream in his mouth that had arrived sometime during their conversation. He dropped the spoon a moment later to clutch at his head, face scrunched up into an expression of agony.

"Brain-freeze?" Tenten asked, taking another bite of sata andagi. Naruto gave a pained nod. "Well, that is what you get for eating ice cream too fast."

"Ow," was all Naruto said, rapidly massaging his temples. He recovered a minute later and proceeded to consume the frozen delicacy at a much slower pace.

The rest of the "meal" was spent mocking the other three members of Team Seven, ranging from Kakashi's extremely improbable hairstyle to Kiba's Beast Human Clone and Four Legs Technique. An hour and a half later Naruto and Tenten were leaving Shizuku-san's Sweet Shop. Naruto tentatively took Tenten's hand in his own, ready to release it in an instant should she tell him to. To his relief though he just wrapped her fingers around the back of his palm through the web between his thumb and forefinger and tightened slightly. Naruto and Tenten walked back slowly, taking time to take in the town that they had not seen yet. Most the time in Wave country had been spent at Tazuna's house or in the surrounding forest. They spent most of the trip back in silence, but this time it was a comfortable silence, not strained at all.

All too soon they arrived back at Tazuna's house. Anko was sitting on a tree branch swinging her legs. "Hey you two, have a nice date?"

Naruto turned to respond to that in the manner that it deserved but recoiled immediately when he saw her, one leg lifting up and his arms shielding his face, body turned partially away. "Fuck, Mom, you're wearing a goddamn skirt. Get the hell down before you scar me any more than you already have."

Anko grinned and swung her legs a few more times, flashing her panties on each upswing before leaping to the ground. "Heh, messing with you is always fun."

"Only you would think that flashing your son is fun, you psycho." Immediately, Anko jumped him, wrestling him into a headlock. "Noogie of Mother's Revenge!"

"What the hell Mom? You just changed the name!"

Tenten allowed Anko to drill her knuckle into Naruto's crown for a few moments before clearing her throat. "Um, well I think I am going to go inside now." Anko grunted her acknowledgment and Tenten edged away from the black haired woman and left Naruto to his mother's mercies. She felt bad about abandoning him after coming back from a date with him, but she had no desire to let Anko play Twenty Questions with her and Naruto. The house was quiet as she opened the door and stepped through. "Hello, anyone here?"

A clatter sounded from the kitchen and a few seconds later Tsunami rounded the corner, drying her hands on a ragged dish towel.

"Oh, hey Tenten-san. What do you need?"

"Nothing really. Just wondering where everyone is."

"Well, Hatake-san is in his room sleeping. Uchiha-san, Haruno-san and Inuzuka-san all left several hours ago. I think they mentioned training. Hyuuga-san is in the back yard working in the garden. I think Mitarashi-san is out front."

"Yeah, Anko greeted Naruto and me on the way in. Might want to prepare a compress." Tsunami suppressed a wince and a sigh. She swore that the trenchcoat-and-fishnet clad woman was the most violent person (Gato aside) that she had met, especially with her own son. She could never imagine treating Inari like that. "So, do you need help with anything Tsunami-san? We have the day off, but I really don't have anything to do."

"Well, I was just tidying up in the kitchen, but you can help if you want."

"Sure, just tell me what I need to do." It turned out that "just tidying up" involved scouring the oven on her hands and knees, emptying the refrigerator and freezer to de-ice the freezer and clean up the frozen-on sticky melange of all the sauces, milk and bits of food that had some way or another been spilled.

"So, I noticed that Naruto-kun calls Mitarashi-san "Mom" but they don't share a surname."

"Uh, yeah, I think that Anko adopted Naruto when he was a baby. He was born after a huge disaster struck Konoha and there were a lot of orphans around, Naruto included."

"That is terrible. At least he seems to have found someone to care for him."

Tenten twisted her mouth into a grimace. "I suppose that she does. Even if she has a unique way of showing it." The conversation was put on hold for a few minutes as Tenten took a breath, and armed with a bottle of cleaner and a scrunge pad dove into the oven. She only reemerged when she heard the front door open and Naruto running from Anko. She sat back on her haunches, a small smile curving her lips as Naruto looked around for a second before opening the door one of the cupboards under the counter and dove inside. Anko strode in not a half second after he closed the door.

"You two see Naruto go by?" Wrestling with the almost overpowering urge to keel over with laughter she fought to maintain a straight face as she pointed to the back of the house. Anko grunted and stalked off. Five seconds later a whisper was heard.

"It safe to come out?"

"Yeah Naruto-kun, it's safe." Cautiously, Naruto cracked the door to the cupboard and peeked out. When he saw that the coast was clear he opened it the rest of the way and tumbled out. "What did you do this time?"

Naruto frowned and put his fists on his hips. "Why does everyone always assume it's something I did?"

"Well, generally speaking, you usually are at the center of any trouble if there is trouble to be had."

He considered this statement for a pair of seconds before grinning and nodding in acknowledgment. "She was trying to pry." That meant that Anko had probably questioned him about their date and he refused to answer her questions. And of course, she never took well to be denied something, especially from her own son. His foxy grin melted into an expression of horror as he heard Anko come storming back through the house. Thinking quickly, Naruto grabbed Tenten's hand and dragged her towards the door. Tenten waved goodbye helplessly, more than slightly amused as Naruto shouted that he had to go train with Tenten, retreating before the advancing Anko. Once they were outside Naruto immediately took to the treetops, Tenten following.

When Naruto judged that they had put enough distance between himself and his irate mother he dropped to the ground. "Sorry bout that Tenten-chan."

Still smothering her giggles she managed to get enough breath to speak. "No, it's okay. But you do know that she will just come down twice as hard on you later."

"Yeah, whatever. As long as it ain't right now." Naruto looked around suddenly. They were in a smallish clearing, maybe twenty paces across bordered by thick underbrush. "Um, well, I said we needed to do training, but we don't have any of our stuff with us." It was true. Both their swords were back at the house, along with their kunai holsters and shuriken pouches.

Naruto was looking around nervously, looking anywhere but at her. In his distracted state he didn't notice Tenten close the distance between him before she slid her hand down his arm and threaded her fingers between his. He whipped his head around immediately, cerulean blue meeting chocolate brown. She bent her head down and captured his lips between hers. This time he was starting to get the idea and pulled her bottom lip between his, sucking gently. Her hand, the one that wasn't entangled with Naruto's rose to his shoulder as she was pulled close against him.

Tenten pulled away a minute later, heat rising in her cheeks. But no matter what she tried, she could not tear her eyes from his. Not that she particularly wanted to. She swore she could spend all day staring into his depthless eyes. How virtually the entire population of Konoha could hate and despise him, she could not fathom. No demon could have eyes as pretty as his were. Tenten was only vaguely aware Naruto turning away and pulling her to sit at the base of one of the trees marking the border of the clearing.

Naruto crossed his legs, tugging Tenten down next to him. Tenten let his hand go and knelt in from of him instead. She pulled his legs apart and then sat between them, leaning back against his chest taking both of his hands and resting them on her stomach. "Now this is much better than sitting next to you, don't you agree?"

Tenten giggled as she could feel the heat rising from his cheeks. She leaned to one side slightly and looked at him. When they were on their feet she was about four inches taller than him, but apparently either she had longer legs than he did, or his torso was longer than hers because they were equal height. He gave a rumble of pleasure as she nuzzled his neck. "You know, it's okay to touch me now that we are dating."

"Er... No, that isn't it."

"Then what is it."

"Well, You know how the entire village hates me?" Tenten nodded. "Well, because of that I haven't had many friends in my life. The only families that don't seem to hate me are the Naras and Aburames, so I don't really have much experience with girls. Mom doesn't count. She is too... unrestrained."

"I see." Tenten had intellectual knowledge of Anko and Naruto's isolation, but it brought a new understanding of her new boyfriend to hear the only other two families to suffer from Konoha's views. "Well, just do whatever you think you should do. I will let you know if you do something wrong." She caught his chin as he tried to avert his gaze. "But I don't think I will have to tell you very much." She punctuated that remark with another kiss. It wasn't anything needy or passionate, just a warm pressure against his lips.

Tenten broke the kiss after a few seconds, turning her head to face forward, leaning into his embrace. She closed her eyes and enjoyed his warmth on her back and large (for a twelve-year-old's) hands resting on her stomach.

The pair relaxed like that for a few minutes before Naruto spoke. "What is it like to have a family, Tenten-chan?"

"What do you mean Naruto-kun?" Tenten asked softly, not opening her eyes.

"Well, I have never really had a family before, most of the time it is just Mom and me, and I was wondering what it's like to have a whole family."

Tenten pondered that question for a minute. Naruto was getting nervous and opened his mouth to retract the question as she replied. "It's having people who care about you no matter what you do I guess. They will yell and shout at you and will not always agree to what you say," she told him, recalling the brawl she had with her mother a couple of years ago over her attending the Shinobi Academy, "but support and love you regardless."

Neither of her parents were ninja, so when she entered the Academy they both thought it was a phase and would drop out eventually. But as her tenth birthday passed and her graduation loomed ever nearer her mother had wanted her to quit the Academy to become a civilian, eventually taking over management of the weapons shop that they ran. Tenten like being a ninja. There was nothing else she would rather be. Unfortunately, her mother was not of a similar mind. If Tenten recalled correctly, her father ended up having to replace nearly all of the plates when Tenten started chucking them at her mother. Luckily Chichi was a fairly agile women, even without any training. But her mother had eventually come around to her point of view and allowed her to graduate the Academy and become an active genin with minimal coddling and complaining.

"But in the end," she continued her answer, "they forgive you and move on."

Naruto was silent for a few more minutes before he whispered so quietly that she almost missed it "will you be my family?"

"Of course," she responded instantly. She admitted that she did not know him as well as she might like, but she did recognize the weight such a question carried with him. A heretofore unnoticed tension was released in his chest when she answered his question. It just drove home how lonely he was to ask a question like that and how nervous he was about her answer.

They spent the next two hours talking, each teaching the other about themselves. Everyone knew of Naruto's nigh-legendary love of ramen, but she also learned that he liked to garden, the small plot of land that was cultivated at his house that Team Nine had visited to learn about poisons was mostly the result of his ministrations.

Naruto in turn learned that neither of her parents were ninja, although her grandfather hand been. The main reason that she specialized in ranged weapons was because her family ran the shop that they had visited before they left Konoha. She helped out around the store in her spare time, working the cash register and cleaning out the forge when her father was done with it. She had a passing familiarity with virtually every weapon that could be found in Konoha, but obviously preferred to strike from a distance. Her dream was to prove that kunoichi could perform on an equal level as shinobi, idolizing Senju Tsunade of the Sannin.

Her favorite food was sesame dumplings, preferred black tea to green, and absolutely could not stand coffee. She dressed in the button up sleeveless shirts because they couldn't possibly bind or somehow catch to restrict her movement in the middle of a fight. She wore her hair up in buns because she liked having it long, despite the effort it took to keep it clean and tangle-free, but recognized that having hair halfway to her butt was a bad idea.

Naruto stared at Tenten's face, eyes closed, in total repose. She breathed deeply and evenly, having dozed off. His gaze lingered a moment on her hitai-aite, dark brown bangs falling over the metal plate, parted in the middle to show her village affiliation. Slowly he disentangled one of his hands and brought it up to her face, lightly stroking one of her eyebrows, causing her smooth forehead to wrinkle momentarily. His fingers drifted lower, passing over her thick eyelashes to trace the line of her cheekbone, stroking her cheek and eventually resting on the underside of her jawbone.

Tenten was a very pretty girl. He would be an idiot not to see it. Vaguely he wondered if she was some kind of recompense the universe was giving him for his otherwise pretty shitty life. He was just starting to come out of the shell shock of discovering that a girl, let alone a very pretty girl wanted to date him. That brought up a whole slew of angst right then and there. He wasn't really sure what he felt for Tenten, one of only three females he interacted with on a regular basis, the others being Hinata and his mother, and she was not a good baseline. He could count on the fingers of one hand the number of people who expressed love for him, and all of them were a good deal older than he was, so he had nothing to compare what he felt now with.

If she was going to date him, she deserved to know of his burden and the hate and rudeness she was likely to encounter by being associated with him so closely. There were two reasons for this. The first was that she was his teammate and deserved to know his secret as a potential weapon to be used. The second was that couples were not supposed to keep secrets from each other, that much he knew. He was terrified that she dump him once she found out though. She was the first person of his generation, other than the Nara and Aburame heirs to want to be his friend, and he was loath to lose her as soon as he gained her. One way or another, he had to tell her before they returned to Konoha, so if she didn't want to associate with him anymore than as teammates she could do so before she became linked with him.

Resigned to his decision he decided that he would enjoy her company while he could. He rested his chin on her shoulder, closing his eyes and returning the hand cupping her face to its original spot under her hand on her stomach. Tenten suppressed a sigh. She had been dozing but had awoken as Naruto moved his hand. She had studied his face as he had held some sort of internal debate. She only hoped that he could trust her enough to let her know what was troubling him. Closing her eyes again she fell into a light doze again.

They spent the rest of the afternoon like that. Naruto stirred as the amber rays of the retiring sun fell across his eyes. The thin flaps of skin retreated to exposed his bright blue eyes to the setting sun. He started immediately, panicking slightly. They had not meant to spend so long out, and now they were probably going to be late for dinner. Naruto's shifting woke Tenten. Opening her eyes, she realized how late it was. Stretching languidly she gripped Naruto's chin and turned his face so that she could kiss him. That stilled Naruto for the thirty seconds that she pressed her lips against his.

"We should probably get back to the house. Everyone will be wondering where we have been."

"Ugh, do we have to? I'm comfortable here." Two seconds after that her stomach rumbled in a very noticeable fashion, reminding her that she had eaten anything since the sweets shop they had visited that morning. "On second thought, dinner is sounding real nice."

Naruto grinned at her. "That was supposed to be my line." He pulled himself out from behind Tenten and then pulled her to her feet with one hand. Looking around, a slightly scared expression spread over his features. "Um, say, do you know which way the house is." He had not been paying much attention to where he ran in his haste to escape his mother. Tenten thought about it for a minute before pointing to their left.

"Pretty sure it is that way." She had been paying slightly more attention to their path than Naruto. Twisting her hand so that it shifted from the handshake grip he had used to pull her up to her feet (and incidentally pulling him closer) to intertwine her fingers with his, both genin dashed the way she had pointed.

Twenty minutes later Tenten spied a thread of smoke rising in the sky to their left. Pointing it out to Naruto they turned to face it. Five minutes after that they approached the house-on-stilts that belonged to the client. "Hello, we're home!" Naruto shouted from the foyer as they entered the house. Three seconds later Anko stood in the doorway.

"Where the hell have you been?" she asked, noting their hands.

"Uh, training." Naruto replied unconvincingly.

"When you left all your equipment here?"

"We were working on taijutsu."

"Right. Well, whatever you were doing, you arrived just in time to gets some dinner." She led the newly minted couple into the dining room. Tazuna, Inari, Kakashi, Sasuke, Kiba and Sakura were already there. Everyone gave a questioning look to Naruto and Tenten but the pair ignored them seating themselves at the table next to each other. Everyone's attention was soon diverted to the newly arrived food. Everything was delicious, something Naruto made sure that Tsunami knew, much to her embarrassment.

After the meal was concluded the ninja retreated to Kakashi's room. "Well, as you all know, I will be completely recovered tomorrow. As such, I will be assuming command again. Tomorrow will be the first day that construction on the bridge will resume since our arrival here in Wave. So I expect Gato to make a move in the next couple of days." Pulling a map of the island of Wave into the middle of the group. The map was surprisingly detailed, showing the all of the towns on the island. There were three dots, inked by hand, one by one of the three largest towns. "Gato has a small mercenary army on his payroll, separated into three camps. Each one is reported to have about a hundred men in them. What I want your team to do Anko, is neutralize this camp right here," he said pointing to the dot closest to Tazuna's town, using a kunai in lieu of a pointing device. Apparently it didn't occur to him to just use his finger.

"This is also where the mercenary commander is supposed to be headquartered." Looking each member of Team Nine in the eye he continued. "I know this is a lot I am asking of you, but right now, I believe that your team is better suited to this mission. My team will accompany Tazuna to the bridge tomorrow. I want you to be packed and ready tonight. Let me know if your are short any supplies; I know you were diverted here from returning from another mission, so if you are short on something, we can split what we have with you."

"I don't think that will be necessary, but I'll double check everything later and let you know," Anko responded. "Do you know anything of how the camp is set up?"

"Just what the villagers could tell me. Canvas walls, twenty foot towers on the corners, and the command tent presumably in the center of it all. Other than that, nothing."

Anko sighed. "Well, I guess we will have to make do with what we got." After that, everyone split up to go to their rooms to prepare for tomorrow. Kakashi had his own room but everyone else had to share. Anko, Tenten, Hinata and Sakura were in one room and Naruto, Sasuke and Kiba shared another. Naruto was unusually solemn as he entered his room to pack. Sasuke and Kiba exchanged a surprised glance when they entered. Naruto was seated on his futon, shuriken and kunai piled before him, wiping everything down with a rag and machine oil. They had expected him to pacing the room nervously or bouncing around and shouting about how he was going to beat everyone up singlehandedly. Instead what they found was what appeared to be a very calm and professional shinobi double checking to make sure that all his tools were in good condition before having to use them.

"I told you before Sasuke that the moron that you and the village knew never existed." That stopped Sasuke in his tracks to exchange a surprised look with Kiba.

"I didn't say anything," he protested.

"Yeah but you sure as hell were thinking it."

"Well, good luck tomorrow Naruto."

Naruto looked up from oiling his weapons. "Thanks Sasuke."

"Hn," was his only reply, turning away from the blond.

Meanwhile in the girls room, Anko was starting to get annoyed with the pink haired kunoichi of Team Seven. "But Anko-sensei, your students are all genin, how can they be expected to handle that many mercenaries right now?"

"I will tell you Haruno-san," Tenten interrupted. "It is because, unlike your sensei, Anko has prepared us to fight, and when necessary kill. So I would not be worrying about us much. I would worry much more about yourself."

"What she says is true Sakura-chan. Naruto, Tenten and Hinata have been training since practically the day Team Nine was formed to fight and eventually kill. I have the utmost confidence that they will succeed in carrying out their duties, and know how to handle themselves if things get sticky. Now, we are going to have to be up before the sun tomorrow, so we need to get to sleep." With that the women of Team Nine smoothed out their blankets and went to sleep.


	9. War and Peace

**Chapter Nine: War and Peace**

The eight shinobi were up several hours before dawn the next day. Team Nine supped on cold leftovers from the previous night's dinner. Kakashi was bright eyed and bushy tailed, but his three genin were still groggy. They had been roused from their blankets along with Team Nine to see them off. Team Seven would not be departing the house for hours yet. Sakura, more alert than either of her teammates shifted her gaze worriedly between the members of Team Nine. She didn't know any of them particularly well, and thought of Naruto as an annoyance, but she didn't want any of them to die.

Irritatingly enough, nobody but her seemed to be worrying much about their upcoming assignment. Tenten, Naruto and even Hinata moved with a confidence and familiarity with their weapons, hooking swords on to belts (and baldric in Naruto's case) with surety born of long experience. She was slightly wary of the four. She remembered how Tenten and Hinata had removed their sword belts, examined their weapons for wear and tear before bed then sheathed them, laying them down next to their futons, one hand resting on the scabbard, ready to draw at an instants notice.

All too soon Anko and her students were out the door and vanished into the darkness. Kakashi stood behind her and put a hand on her shoulder as Sasuke and Kiba went back to bed. "Don't worry Sakura-chan, Anko will take care of her team. They will all come back safely."

"I hope so," she whispered before returning to her futon.

OoOoO

Anko and company had been tree hopping for half an hour before a glow rose in front of them. They slowed down to a more cautious pace and approached the treeline. There was a clearing in front of them, maybe three quarters of a mile in diameter, compound in it. In the predawn darkness the canvas walls were lit by torches on tripods, guards every fifty feet or so. Digging a pair of binoculars from her pack, Anko put them to her eyes. Focusing the lenses, she noted that the interior of the camp was dark and quiet, the odd campfire throwing light here and there. However the most important feature was a large, three peaked tent in the middle of the camp. The area around it was well lit, with a dozen bright torches throwing the shadows back a good twenty feet. Also there were three times the guards pacing the perimeter of the light as there were on the walls in the same space. Lowering the binoculars she turned to her team.

"So here's the plan. Naruto, what I want you to do is just flood the area with as many shadow clones as you can manage. You are running distraction. Tenten-chan, Hinata-chan, follow behind Naruto and keep an eye out for any officers that pop up. Your assignment is to eliminate anyone who can organize a defense. Naruto, assign a dozen or so clones to follow me, I will head straight to the command tent and eliminate the commander. Got it everyone?" All three teenagers nodded. "Okay. Set your mics to channel three."

Everyone strapped their special-issue radios to their throats and tested them to make sure that they were working. Once that was done, Anko signaled Naruto forward. Closing his eyes for a second he focused his chakra and threw his hands together in the cross seal for the Shadow Clone Technique. One second later the area was blanketed in a thick bank of ninja smoke. Using a Great Breakthrough, Naruto cleared it to reveal a hundred copies of himself. Smiling at his teammates, the original was quickly lost as all the clones charged the wall en masse. None of the guards on the wall reacted at first, stunned by the sight of a wall of people storming the camp. As the Naruto's reached about halfway to the wall, one of the guards gained his senses long enough to sound the alarm.

Some of the guards on the wall panicked and ran back into the camp, but the vast majority stood their ground. Each one of the wall guards set himself to accept the rush of a thousand black-clad Naruto's. But they were left staring stupidly at one another as the clones drew their swords and tore through the canvas of the wall, completely bypassing those up on the wall. In hindsight, while canvas was incredibly cheap, it probably did not make the best fortifications.

Naruto smirked to himself as he saw the guards up on top of the wall set themselves. He reached over his shoulder and drew Kitsune, his action mirrored a hundred times over. Sweeping his sword in front of him he jumped through the rent he had created in the cloth. In front of him was a sight that made his blood boil. There was one of the mercenaries seated at the base of one of the ladders used to ascend the wall. At his feet was a child, no more than five or so. A large jug sake was clutched in her arms. The jug was dropped as the man she was presumably carrying it to slapped her hard across the face. Apparently he was too drunk to realize that the camp was under attack.

The girl fell to her knees, showing her badly cut hair and bruise covered arms and face. These men were using _children as slaves. _Ignoring the sounds of battle around him as his clones engaged the mercenary's companions, Naruto set his sword down and knelt down to the girl. "Hey there. Are you okay?"

Before the girl could respond the guard with the alcohol lurched to his feet. "Hey, whoda hell are you? That is my servant dere. You dun get to touch 'er."

Picking the terrified girl up in his arms he stroked her back and whispered softy in her ear. "Shh... be quiet now. I'm here to help you. Everything will be okay now. Just hush." Naruto had turned away from the drunken guard to comfort the girl, but the guard was getting angry.

"Hey you! I said dat's my servant dere. Put 'er down now!" Naruto bent down to pick up his sword again before he turned to face him.

"You shut the fuck up. You don't get to talk to her. In fact, you don't even get to look at her." Quickly Naruto handed the sobbing girl to a clone before facing the drunken guard fully. The guard fell back in alarm as the boy in front of him suddenly took on a far more terrifying aspect, crimson eyes searing into his mind. He was not given long to contemplate his terror as Naruto released the tension in his muscles and sent the guard's head rolling across the ground.

Naruto took a moment to assimilate the memories of clones that had been destroyed, trying to see if there was any area that was offering particularly stiff resistance. Not noting any immediately he sent the clone with the girl back to the tree line before charging back into the blood bath that was only now starting up in earnest.

OoOoO

Hinata was following Tenten with her Byakugan activated, searching out anyone who looked to be organizing resistance. Both girls had followed their male teammate in through one of the slashes in the canvas wall and were forced to a halt. Bodies and pieces of bodies scattered the ground, a blood coating everything liberally.

"Tenten-san, was Naruto-kun really the one who did this?"

"I dunno. But we cannot be distracted from our mission. We have to search out the leaders of the mercenaries here."

The pair of kunoichi slowly made their way towards the center of the camp, shadowing the battalion of Narutos that were running amok in the camp. Hinata stopped walking and turned her head to the left. "What's wrong Hinata?" Tenten asked.

"Our first target. Fifty meters that way," Hinata murmured back, gesturing to a slight rise to the left where a giant man was gesturing emphatically to a ring of soldiers surrounding him.

"I see," Tenten said. "How do your want to do this?"

"Start by sniping the big man's retainers off. I will go in and go toe-to-toe with them. Just be sure to keep me covered."

"Sure thing Hinata-chan." Tenten always thought it was slightly surprising how Hinata could have such problems with her self-confidence outside of combat, but once the blood started flowing, she changed to someone resembling the cold Hyuuga stereotype that had been expected of her her entire life. Tenten unsealed a scroll from her shirt and started firing shuriken and kunai at the men surrounding the giant. Half of them were dead before they could even figure out what the hell was going on.

Working in concert, Tenten and Hinata were able to make short work of the cronies before facing the large man. He was big in every sense of the word. He looked to be closer to eight feet than seven, and had hands as big as either of the kunoichi's heads. The pair of pants that he wore had enough material in them so that a normal sized man could probably stand in either leg. He was shirtless, rotund belly made mostly of muscle, arms equally as thick, as they had to be considering the small tree of a club he was leaning on.

"Well well, what do we have here?" he asked directing his obsidian eyes to the waist high ninja. Tenten and Hinata didn't respond. They released their shikai and readied themselves to receive his attack. "Well, if that is how you want to play it then, be my guest. Just don't say that I didn't warn you." The unnamed man lifted his monstrous club easily and made a lazy swipe at Tenten and Hinata. Both easily dodged, Hinata ducking under and Tenten back flipping out of the way.

Hinata studied the giant warily, evading several more pulverizing strikes before attacking herself. She waited until he made a horizontal sweep that would have ripped her in half had it connected and darted in, her clawed hand digging into his extended arm. Unfortunately, he merely grinned at the trenches he dug in his arm, completely ignoring the pain. No matter where or how deeply Hinata struck he was able to brush the damage off. She even tried a three fingered Lightning Blast, but even that barely slowed him down, causing him to stumble slightly and shake his head before going back on the attack.

The hill that the three were battling on was starting to look it, several deep craters and a scorch mark from a missed Lightning Blast decorating the bare dirt. The unnamed giant was sporting a multitude of wounds, shuriken and kunai spread over his chest quite liberally. Hinata winced as he was able to finally make a glancing blow, his club tagging her shoulder on a horizontal sweep. Hinata was sent tumbling to one side, only stopping once Tenten caught her.

"You okay Hinata-chan?"

Hinata stood up on wobbly legs. "Yeah, I'm okay for the moment," she grunted, wincing as she felt her shoulder. "I dislocated my shoulder and might have broken my collarbone. Hurts a bit."

"How are we supposed to take this guy down? He is completely ignoring everything we do to him. My kunai and shuriken don't slow him down the least bit. The only good thing here is that he can only swing that tree vertically and horizontally, it is too big to do otherwise."

Hinata looked over at their opponent who was relaxing by leaning on his club, apparently content to let them talk. Hinata looked him over, trying to come up with a strategy that didn't involve either one of them being reduced to paste. Hinata suddenly turned to Tenten and whispered to her. Tenten shook her head and the pair separated.

"So you two girlies ready to give up yet?"

Instead of answering Tenten let off a volley of kunai that the giant didn't even bother to block as they struck him in the chest. "Did you do something? I think I felt a tickle."

He lifted up his club as Hinata charged him, he wounded arm held against her chest. He smirked as he swung at her again but was surprised when instead of rolling out of the way she bounced up on his club. Hinata leaped forward, a black tornado spinning in midair, a sweeping foot striking three kunai in his chest. Hinata leaped away out of his range and waited. The smiling giant reached up to itch the spot that she had kicked. "Was that the best you could do girlie? I barely felt anything." He raised his club and took a step forward to attack when his face contorted into confusion. A moment later he opened his mouth and blood dribbled down his chin.

"What the hell did you do to me? What witchcraft have..." was all he managed before he collapsed face first on the ground.

Hinata drew a kunai in her good arm and slowly approached the fallen giant. He was lying face down in the dirt, and didn't appear to be breathing. However, Hinata slit his throat just to be sure. Looking over to Tenten and nodding, they went off in search of their next target once Hinata had repaired her injuries.

OoOoO

Meanwhile, Anko was having fun. She was in her element, slipping among the shadows like a wraith, only popping up long enough to grab a man from behind and dispatch him, by slitting his throat, breaking his neck or slipping a kunai or senbon into his brain. The dozen copies of her son followed her, waiting until they arrived at the command tent before announcing themselves.

Ten minutes into the attack, Anko and her twelve guards crouched down in the shadows outside the ring of light surrounding the command tent. At her signal, the Naruto clones drew their katanas and cocked their arms back. All the guards saw were flickers of light on steel before they were cut in half. Anko strode past the pools of gore, ignoring the blood that squelched in between her toes. Slipping around back, she carefully cut a hole in the tent and entered,

There was a single man in the middle of the tent, leaning on a table with both hands, examining a map. He was of about average height, shaggy brown hair falling forward to obscure his face. His clothes were in good condition, very few stitches and patches evident. But what caught her attention most significantly was the katana strapped to his waist. Raising her kunai, she padded forward, p[lanning to thrust the knife into his brain. As she struck, the man whirled, deflecting he strike with the side of his hand.

"I told the midget that it was only a matter of time before someone turned up to try to do something about him. I told him I needed more samurai, or shinobi if not the first, but he was too confident that no one would bother to come here." The man straightened and glared at Anko. Sharp was the word that Anko thought when she saw his face. Sharp and narrow. He had a long pointed nose, with a narrow jaw that ended in a chin that could cut. His eyes were wide, under a pair of high eyebrows. Overall, it was an aristocratic face.

"Are you ready to die Shinobi-san?"

"Nah, I got plans that I can't afford to cancel. I hate to disappoint my friends."

"Well, that is a shame I suppose. It seems that I am in a similar situation." After he said that he drew the katana, holding it to her in both hands. "I guess we will just have to see who will be able to keep their calendar, shall we?"

Anko nodded not saying anything. However, the color drained from her face as she felt a cocoon of chakra envelop the man, as the smile on his face twisted into a sneer. _'Fuck! This guy isn't some half trained thug ronin, he is a disgraced samurai. I'm not going to be able to take him alone.' _Anko quickly fled from the tent outside where she would have some space to fight. The presence of the samurai was troubling. If there was one, there might be more, and her genin had no idea how to fight one. The chakra cocoon that he had wrapped himself in was his most dangerous attribute. With that, he was virtually immune to just about any nin- or genjutsu, and even most taijutsu, the styles that relied on chakra to enhance it. The cocoon able to disrupt the chakra matrix that they were composed of.

If any of her genin were to try to take another samurai head on, they would die. Samurai trained for hours a day with their swords and physical stamina. The best way for a shinobi to kill a samurai was to exhaust him, and wait for his chakra cocoon to go down. Once that was gone, then they were no different than any other expert swordsmen. Unfortunately, Anko didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of outlasting her opponent, so that meant finding Naruto and getting him to wear the samurai down so that she could then kill him.

Anko was hopping about, always trying to staying more than five feet away from him, because if she got nearer than that, her chakra would be shut down completely, thus making her easy pickings. "'Trickster', 'Charmer' singing. Heathen landed, wrecking ball smash through" she pressed two fingers to the throat receptor on her mic using the handle that Naruto had chosen for himself.

It was a minute before her son responded and when he did his voice was rough. "Just finishing up with the last twenty guys or so. These people were using children as slaves."

Anko winced at that. If there was one thing that Naruto could not stand, it was cruelty to children, no doubt rising in part from his own bad experiences. "I need you to get your ass over to the command tent on the triple. I've run into a Snag."

A Snag was Bad. Everyone knew that no plan lasted past the first contact with the enemy, and difficulties were expected and could be planned for, to a certain extent. Snags, however, were unforeseen problems that could compromise the mission itself. Anko winced as she tried to parry a sword thrust from the samurai and got a long cut along a rib for her trouble. Anko did not have the large chakra reserves required for extended chakra manipulation and the constant chakra-enhanced leaps and dodges were starting to take their toll. If Naruto didn't arrive soon, she was in deep shit.

Fortunately, Naruto arrived in the nick of time, blindsiding the samurai with a flying tackle from one of the peaks of the command tent. The two rolled several times before Naruto was launched into the air. He landed hard on his back thirty feet away and lay there, stunned and winded.

Anko grimaced as she leaped forward to distract the samurai away from her momentarily defenseless son. Anko staggered back, stars obscuring her vision as she locked blades with the samurai, slowly being pressed back as his cocoon sapped her chakra-enhanced strength. If she could only nick him, the adrenaline-based poison that she had coated her kunai with could take effect, speeding the samurai's heart up until it exploded, but she couldn't get anywhere close enough to tag him. Suddenly he snapped his pommel forward, catching her above the eye and splitting the skin. But her attack had bought Naruto the time he needed to recover and he was back on his feet.

"This is the snag?" Naruto asked, but Anko barely recognized the voice. In fact, she barely recognized him at all. This Naruto was a far more feral one than her son was. The red chakra swirling around his hunched form exuded that semi-familiar evil that she had felt twelve years ago. His curled fingers had sprouted inch-long claws around the hilt of his sword, and his canines had grown into fangs extending past his lower lip. But most disturbing of all was that his normally sky-blue eyes had shifted into a bloody red, pupils lengthened into catlike slits. His hair was whipped around by the force of his chakra.

Without waiting for confirmation, Naruto jumped forward using both hands to swing Kitsune in a man-chopping overhead cut, burying the steel almost a foot into the ground. The samurai had easily evaded the blow, still smirking. However, his smirk soon turned to a frown as the boy before him showed alarming facility with his blade. His scowl deepened as the boy continued to hold him off, the length of the sword allowing the boy to keep an annoying distance between the two. It seemed that Naruto had unwittingly discovered the secret to fight a samurai as a ninja, and that was to keep him as far away as possible.

However, the samurai were not known as the greatest swordmasters for nothing. While Naruto was able to keep the unnamed samurai away from him, he was simply not good enough to touch him either. Naruto back flipped a dozen paces away as he roared the name of his signature ninjutsu. The entire camp was engulfed as a massive cloud of ninja smoke was summoned. Naruto and Anko watched as the samurai and his sword blurred easily dispatching the army of clones that Naruto had summoned. Naruto leaped forward, bare fisted, as the samurai finished off the last handful of clones. Naruto was so lost in the Kyuubi's rage that he left his sword lying on the ground, forgotten.

The samurai retreated quickly before the engine of destruction that was Naruto. The sheer menace and hatred that was rolling off the boy dressed in black clothes completely baffled the veteran warrior. No matter how he cut and sliced at the boy, he only snarled and continued, ignoring the bite of sharp steel. The samurai was sporting a number of wounds himself, courtesy of Naruto's clawed fingers. He was starting to panic now. There was no possible way that the creature in front of him was human, not with the foul chakra that was pouring off of him, more than even his chakra-consuming cocoon could handle.

The samurai finally realized that he was probably not going to defeat the boy, but he could take him to meet the Shinigami also. The samurai made a straight thrust that speared the smaller boy through his left chest, ignoring the claws reaching to tear his head off. To the samurai's relief, Naruto made a swipe at him, but missed, arms too short to overcome the distance the samurai's extended arms and sword gave him.

His eyes widened in horror though as Naruto gripped the steel of his sword in both hands, ignoring the pain of having his hands shredded as he pulled himself up the sword. "What the fuck _are _you?" the samurai whispered.

"_**Death," **_Naruto replied in a voice that was felt as much as heard, more right than even he knew.

Distantly the samurai wondered how it was that a runt of a ninja was able to overcome him in a purely physical fight, where samurai were supposed to have the advantage over ninja as the Kyuubi-possessed Naruto ripped his throat out with his teeth.

Hinata and Tenten watched Naruto's fight from among the tents, those that remained standing. They had heard Anko tell Naruto to come to her, and already having completed their objective, followed suit. They had just reached the edge of the clearing where the command tent was situated when Naruto entered his berserker mode. The two girls were forced to the ground, cheeks in the dirt, by the oppressive weight of the ki that Naruto was creating. They were unable to do anything but watch from the sidelines as the samurai started to rip Naruto up, just breathing almost more than either could manage. Tenten's heart stopped in her chest and her throat closed up as she saw the samurai impale Naruto through the chest and nearly vomited as Naruto pulled himself up the sword to take a bite out of his throat.

The crippling ki vanished as Naruto fell back. Instantly, both girls were on their feet racing to where their teammate had fallen. "Naruto," Tenten whispered almost inaudibly when she got close enough to see the damage. His clothes were reduced to rags, and there was more blood than skin showing. Strangely enough, he didn't seem to have as many cuts on him as the state of his clothes would suggest, the hole in his chest and a handful of alarmingly deep cuts adorning his chest and arms.

Hinata activated her bloodline eyes to examine him, tearing the remnants of his shirt off. "The sword pierced his lung and missed his heart. However, his lung is filling with blood." She glanced down to the gauge set into the black glove on her arm. Less than a third full, not nearly enough to do any good. She regretted using Minazuki to patch Tenten and herself up earlier now. She might be able to heal Naruto with a full gauge, but she wasn't sure. Tenten and Hinata still looked very battered, yellowing bruises scattered randomly. Tenten was sporting a very nice shiner on her eye, which had swollen, forcing her left eye shut and Hinata had a mouse growing under her right eye herself.

"Hey Hinata-chan, Tenten-chan. I fucked him over good didn't I?" His voice was a weak and thready, his small laugh turning into a hacking cough. Hinata helped him roll onto his side and spit the blood out. Looking around for something to use as bandages, she gestured for Anko and Tenten to tear up one of the cleaner-looking tents to fashion bandages. She spied his tan trench coat several feet away. He must have lost it early on in the fight because it was hardly damaged. Taking a kunai she and Tenten cut the rough tent cloth into strips which, with the help of Anko, they wound around his torso.

"Naruto-kun, what happened to you back there?" Hinata and Tenten had draped an arm over each of their shoulders to help a woozy Naruto walk out of the camp and back to Tazuna's house.

Hinata and Tenten felt the tension return to his body almost instantly. Naruto was quiet for a minute and Tenten was about to retract her question when he spoke in a low voice as he pulled out of their grips and stepped ahead of them. "Do either of you know what my birthday is?"

"October tenth," Hinata responded immediately. Her face heated in a blush as she realized how quickly she had answered, but neither of her teammates seemed to think the speed of her response odd.

"You know that the Yondaime defeated the Kyuubi that day also, but the fact that he killed the Kyuubi is a lie. The Kyuubi was a being of pure chakra, and was immortal. So to defeat it he was forced to use his life as a sacrifice to power a seal that would imprison the demon in a newly born infant. That infant was me." He paused before continuing. "I am sure that I can get the Hokage to assign you to another teammate."

Tenten took a long step forward and hauled on his shoulder, forcing him to face her. She raised one hand and slapped him, causing him to stumble slightly. He regained his balance and sent a small glare to Tenten. He had just admitted that he carried the most hated being in all of Konoha and she had the nerve to slap him? He knew that she had been too good to be true, that she hated him now, just like everyone else.

Before he was able to speak she spoke. "What kind of bullshit are you spouting off now? Why the hell would I want that? You are Uzumaki Naruto, my boyfriend. So what if you have a demon sealed in you? Are you the same person you were last week? Or has your admission turned you into someone else?" She sighed at his incomprehension. "Let me put it this way. What were you thinking when you used the Kyuubi's chakra?"

"To protect Mom."

"Exactly. Now, I don't know about you, but most demons I heard of wouldn't give a rat shit whether or not one person came to harm, no matter who they were. You used the Kyuubi chakra to protect your mother. That sounds just like the Naruto that I love."

"But I killed that man, I ripped his throat out with my teeth, you can't say that that is normal."

"Naruto, remember when we discussed this, this kind of thing was expected to happen." Anko put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him, letting Naruto's sword drop to rest her arms. She didn't have a clue as to how her son was able to swing Kitsune around like it was a feather duster when she had to use both hands to carry the damn thing.

"You mean you have know about it for a while?" Tenten looked from mother to son in confusion.

"Yeah, for about two years now, I found out right after I got out of the hospital when I got mugged on my birthday, when I got all my scars."

Tenten stepped forward and pulled Naruto into a kiss. Hinata's face immediately ignited and she diverted her gaze. Anko on the other hand, hand no such compunctions about about messing with Tenten and Naruto. Fifteen seconds later Anko coughed, not so discreetly. "Geez, don't either you you need to breathe?"

Tenten looked her way and flipped her the birdie, never losing contact with Naruto. They did break a few seconds after that, much to Hinata's relief. "That was sorry for slapping you. But I don't ever want to hear such a moronic comment from your mouth ever again. Clear?"

"I understand." The amount of gratitude that Naruto sent her was appalling. That such a simple acceptance would shock him that much spoke volumes of the hatred that he had experienced.

"And what about you Hinata-san?"

To hear Naruto refer to her with that particular suffix wounded the indigo-haired kunoichi terribly. "Um, I-i don't think that you are the t-thing that you contain, Naruto-kun. I would much rather h-have you as my teammate that a-anyone else." Hinata ducked her eyes to her feet the moment that she started to answer his question, so she did not see the near joy that crossed his features.

She squeaked when Naruto seized her in a hug a moment later and whispered "thank you Hinata-chan," in her ear. She wanted to tell him that he was her teammate, that they were supposed to stick together, but her traitorous throat refused to let any sound passed so she was reduced to nodding her acceptance.

Tenten gave her other female teammate a slightly cool nod when Naruto set her down, and they resumed walking, rushing forward to catch Naruto when he stumbled a moment later.

"Still not all better quite yet I guess." Neither girl had anything to say to that.

OoOoO

Several miles away, on the other side of the island, a barge full of mercenaries was on the water, heading towards Tazuna's partially completed bridge. The rough banter and insults were cut off abruptly however when an absolutely inhuman wave of rage and hatred washed over them. No small number soiled themselves in some manner, looking to their fellows, wondering what the hell was going on. Gato shivered in terror, debating the merits of calling the attack off. He could let Zabuza deal with whatever the hell was generating that monstrous killing intent. On the other hand, he couldn't afford to let the mercenaries he had hired see his fear, or they might desert him. In this case, his greed outweighed his fear. On they would go.

OoOoO

Back at Tazuna's home, four shinobi and three civilians were violently torn from their slumber. Tsunami, Tazuna and Inari rushed out of their rooms to question the shinobi about what that most hateful feeling was. The fact that Kakashi himself was visibly shaken was of no comfort.

"There is nothing to worry about. That is from an ally." His three genin of course demanded that he further qualify that statement, but he ignored them in favor of staring out a window in the direction that Team Nine had departed hours earlier.

"Tazuna, it is time to go. Sasuke, Kiba, Sakura, be ready for trouble." That said, he strode determinedly to his room, ignoring the squawked protests. Anko better damn well know what was going on, for all their sakes.

OoOoO

The trip back from the mercenary camp took longer than the trip from it. Naruto seemed to be stable, or at least he wasn't worsening. Anko had put her nearly nonexistent medical knowledge to use and was able to keep Naruto from dying until they could get him better attention at Tazuna's house. Anko hoped that Kakashi had the opportunity to copy the Mystical Palm Technique. If he hadn't than they would have to rely on the Kyuubi's enhanced regeneration to heal him, and nobody knew how long that would take. All of his other wounds had healed by this point, but that sword thrust didn't show any signs of healing.

Anko tensed and waved her team to silence as they approached Tazuna's house. There were signs of a struggle, with a window broken and the door missing. Anko cautiously advanced onto the building, a poisoned kunai in one hand. The door had been kicked off its hinges and lay a foot into the foyer. Carefully she advanced into the dining room/family room. The place was trashed, the table reduced to splinters and the walls carved up. Padding further into the house she heard a soft sobbing. Anko slowly eased the door to the sobbing open and saw Inari bawling on the floor. Flicking her eyes around to make sure that there were no enemies hiding, she knelt down and put a maternal hand on his shoulder.

"Inari-chan, what happened here?"

"Th-those sam-sam-samurai, they took m-my mom," he managed to choke out. Anko's face tightened in anger. So it appeared that Gato was making his move today.

"Inari-chan, this is important. I want to go save you mother, but I need to know where they went. Did they go to the bridge or did they take her to Gato's base?"

"They said that they were going to make an example of her in front of Grandpa."

"Alright, that's good. You did well Inari. Hush now. I will make everything better, I promise." Turning away from Inari, Anko put her fingers to lips and let a piercing whistle out. A minute later, Tenten and Hinata entered, still supporting Naruto. Inari gasped when he saw the bloodstained cloth wrapping around Naruto's chest, tan trenchcoat covering his back and arms.

"Inari, Naruto was hurt in a fight, and I need you to take care of him while I take his teammates to go help your grandfather. Can you do that for me please?"

Inari wiped the tears from his eye with a sleeve, and put on a determined expression. "I can help Naruto-san while you are helping my family."

"That is a good boy."

"Hold on a second, why am I being left here with the brat?"

"Because Naruto, with your injury, were I to take you, you would be more of a liability than an asset, you can barely stand on your own, and there is at least two jounin-level missing-nin working for Gato right now. We have to get to the bridge as fast as possible, and you would only slow us down. The best you can do is remain here and focus on healing."

Naruto thought about that for a few seconds and then sullenly accepted her decision. Anko then turned to Hinata and Tenten. "Are either of you hurt bad enough to have to stay here?" When both girls shook their heads Anko nodded approvingly. "Well that is good. We are going to have to double-time it to get to the bridge."

Tenten bent down to give Naruto a quick peck on the cheek, promising to throw a couple of kunai for him. Naruto nodded appreciatively as he watched her retreating form.

Naruto then turned to Inari. "Alright brat, time to go," ignoring the boys spluttering protests.

OoOoO

Anko held a fist out to the side, signaling for a halt as they reached the edge of the forest, peering into the thick fog that enveloped the bridge. Doubtlessly Zabuza's handiwork. "Remember, try to stay concealed for as long as possible. No one here is fighting at their best, so be careful. I don't want to be dragging a body bag home because one of you got sloppy because you were tired. Got it?" She jumped out of the tree she was crouched in and disappeared into the fog once she received acknowledgment.

There seemed to be at least three separate fights going on, with Sakura guarding Tazuna, a dark haired shinobi talking with Sasuke, Kakashi duking it out with Zabuza and Kiba presumably in what appeared to be a dome of either ice or glass panels. Silently directing each of her genin to assist a member of Team Seven, she herself slunk over to where Kakashi was. Kakashi had a large gash across his chest and had summoned a pack of nindogs to assist him. From what she knew of the man, he would probably try to pin Zabuza down with the dogs and then kill him with that not-assassination move he called the Chidori. As loud as that attack was, how anyone could ever conceive classifying that as an assassination jutsu was beyond her.

Tearing herself out of her thoughts she concentrated on the fight occurring before her. She was low on chakra, so she would have to pick her entry carefully. After a minute of observation, she saw her opportunity. Zabuza was fending Kakashi's dogs off with his one good arm when she charged a Lightning Grip, putting the rest of her pitifully low chakra reserves into it. Given Zabuza's size, it would only affect him for a handful of seconds before she would have to drop it. Hopefully, Kakashi would be able to finish him off when she had locked Zabuza down. Unfortunately, Zabuza sensed something, whether it was the chakra of her jutsu or the soft slapping of her sandals on the concrete of the bridge was irrelevant.

Grimacing as she felt the sharp pain of running on empty, she made one last ditch effort to catch Zabuza, completely missing flesh, but cutting her palm on his trailing zanbato, the pain instinctively contracting her muscles, allowing her electrically charged chakra to surge into his body.

"NOW KAKASHI!" she screamed and felt warm blood splatter her face a second later as Kakashi thrust his arm into Zabuza to the elbow. She grinned maniacally at Kakashi once before she collapsed to the rough concrete.

OoOoO

Hinata paused only long enough to make sure a stunned Sakura and Tazuna were alright before ordering the pair to stay where they were and drawing her rapier as she charged into the thick back of fog. Tazuna and Sakura exchanged a bewildered glance before looking to where the unusually determined Hinata had raced off into the fog.

Hinata grimaced as she approached the dome of ice where Anko thought Kiba was. She drew her sword back and focused her will, honing the soul steel before swinging it in a diagonal slash that parted the chakra-charged ice with only a little resistance after activating her bloodline eyes. Hinata ignored the flabbergasted look Kiba sent her way and the ice mirror reforming behind her, cutting off her escape.

"What the hell are you doing here Hinata-chan?"

"My team and I returned to Tazuna's house earlier this morning to find the place ransacked. Tsunami-san has been kidnapped, so we left Naruto there and my sensei and other teammate hurried here the help."

"As touching that this reunion is, you have only rushed to your death, Konoha-san."

"I wouldn't count us out yet, Hunter-san," Hinata replied.

"You know, I was doing just fine before you arrived."

Hinata examined him out of the corner of her eye before answering. "You were getting your ass handed to you Kiba." Both Kiba and Akamaru slouched over slightly as their jaws hit the ground at Hinata's words.

"Who the hell are you and what have you done with Hinata? She was never this assertive in the Academy."

"I grew up," was the only answer that she gave.

"If you two are done, may we return to our fight please?" Without warning, a hundred ice senbon erupted from the ice mirrors. Kiba and Akamaru immediately leaped to one side to avoid the projectiles, but Hinata did not budge an inch. With her Byakugan activated, she could see every senbon heading towards her. When they came in range, she exploded into motion, her sword a silver blur as she intercepted or dodged by bending at seemingly impossible angles, before coming to a stop, legs spread apart and sword pointing at the ground, kimono and hakama settling back down around her form.

Kiba was stunned to say the least. Here he was, barely to pull the senbon out before he was peppered again, and Hinata didn't have a scratch on her, still able to fight at Haku's level even after returning from destroying the bandit camp, as he knew that neither Anko nor Naruto would leave until the mission was complete. This Hinata that was fighting in front of him was a complete stranger. He had wondered at the tree genin of Team Nine's new weapons when they had first arrived and then assumed that they only had a basic ability with them, but this Hinata was scarily proficient with her rapier.

"Kiba-kun, could you finish our opponent off if I were to stop him?"

"Uh, I guess so," he replied before having to dodge another senbon barrage.

"Can you or can you not Kiba? I need to know."

"Yeah, slow him down enough, and I can put him down for good."

"Alright then, be ready." He was about to ask ready for what when she did that thing with her sword that she had during the spars at the beginning of the combined mission. Once again he was left wondering what kind of weapon that was. Setting herself into what he recognized as a Jyuuken stance she lashed out at a breeze. To Kiba's supreme surprise, her claws came away wet with blood, and the fake hunter-nin spiraled out of control, landing heavily a few paces away. Kiba could see three slashes decorating the guy's upper arm, quite deep judging by the amount of blood that was flowing out. Kiba quickly tossed Akamaru his third soldier pill of the fight, wincing as he knew that more than one was bad for the dog, but it couldn't be helped.

Kiba immediately threw his hands together in the seals for the Beast Human Clone and then the Double Piercing Fang, throwing the enemy ninja's body to the other end of the dome, shattering his mask. The effeminate young man tried to duck into one of his ice mirrors, but Hinata was on him as soon as he had regained his feet. Kiba rushed forward to assist Hinata, trying to get a grapple to stop him so that Hinata could finish him off with her Jyuuken.

Kiba saw the boy's eyes widen suddenly. "I am sorry, but I have to cut our fight short." And before either Konoha-nin could do anything, he vanished, rushing through the mist to where Kakashi was fighting Zabuza.

"That was rather... anticlimactic," Kiba said looking to where the guy had rushed off to. Suddenly, Hinata dropped to her knees, the black gauntlet reforming into her rapier. "Hinata, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm f-fine Kiba-kun. Just tired is all. Using my shikai as many times I have today is very wearing."

"I see," Kiba replied, obvious that he didn't, but willing to let the matter drop in favor of regrouping with his team for the moment. Sliding an arm under the shorter girl's shoulder, he walked off in the direction that would lead him to Sakura he hoped. Anko and Kakashi could handle themselves for the moment. But he looked back and stopped in shock at what he saw as the mist faded away.

OoOoO

Tenten silently padded past where Hinata was talking to Sakura and Tazuna, trying to locate Sasuke and his opponent in the fog. After a minute or so of quietly walking around, a pair of kunai drawn, she heard faint voices off to her right. The higher one she recognized as Sasuke's, and the other, deeper one she assumed was Zabuza's partner. The voices grew louder as she got closer, and her eyebrows nearly disappeared under her hitai-aite when she heard what they were talking about.

"...give you strength, Uchiha-san.

"He was driven from Konoha by the Sandaime, that means he was weaker than the Hokage."

"Orochimaru-sama had his reasons for leaving Konoha, and they had little to do with the Sandaime" Sasuke said nothing so the other voice continued. "Orochimaru-sama has become far more powerful than he could ever have, had he continued to be limited by the outdated morality of Konoha."

"And you think that..."

"I know it, from an unimpeachable source."

"So what? He is old, he has to have weakened from age, and only have a few years until he will die."

"There are ways of cheating death, for one prepared to make the proper sacrifices."

"And how would you know this?"

"Because I have seen Orochimaru-sama's immortality first hand... Hold on, it seems we have a mouse. Come here, little mouse."

Tenten swore. She had been so engrossed in the stranger's speech that she had either gotten too close or made a sound, and had exposed herself. Dipping into her nearly empty weapon pouch, she launched a brace of shuriken where she thought the mysterious speaker was. Tenten received a second shock a moment later when she dashed closer and was able to see him. It was the leader of the hitai-aite-less ninja that had attacked her team on the way to Kiri. Although, he had a headband on this time, but not with any symbol she was familiar with. It seemed to be a musical quarter note engraved on his hitai-aite.

"Sasuke, what the hell is going on here?"

The male genin's mouth thinned into a white line but said nothing. "You," she snarled, pointing one of her last three kunai at the man. "You were the leader of those ninja that attacked us on the way to Kiri."

The man nodded politely. "Indeed I was. I hope you won't hold my previous actions against me?"

"Hold them against you? Your subordinates killed me and my teammates!" she shrieked. That got a sharp glance from Sasuke.

The man sighed. "I don't suppose that I could convince you to depart. You have interrupted a rather important conversation with young Sasuke-kun here." Sasuke bared his teeth in a rictus snarl. The stranger saw this and sighed again. "Well, the mood is ruined now. We will contact you again. I hope you will be of a more open frame of mind then. Be sure to think on my words. Now, if you will excuse me."

The man only smiled as Tenten snatched a scroll from her shirt and unsealed the weapons within. Before she could do anything else, he vanished in a mist body flicker.

A very pissed off Tenten rounded on Sasuke. "Alright Uchiha, want to explain what exactly the hell was going on here? Who was that man and what did he mean when he mentioned leaving Konoha?"

Sasuke continued to stare where the other shinobi was for a few seconds before glancing at you. "That was a personal matter. I don't have to tell you anything." He walked off into the thinning mist, leaving a paralyzed Tenten behind. '_What the fuck did he mean by that?'_

OoOoO

Kakashi was lifting an exhausted Anko up when he saw Zabuza's apprentice fly by, stopping by the body of his master. Through the thinning mist, he could see that the other fights seemed to have been resolved, with the boy by his feet, and the dark haired man nowhere to be seen. Everyone's attention was pulled to the end of the bridge that was uncompleted by an arrogant laugh. Kakashi turned to see a short, fat, white-haired, balding man laughing to the sky with his hands arrogantly crossed over his chest. Kakashi supposed that Gato felt that with the thirty or forty or so mercenaries behind him, he had a right to. Kakashi didn't miss the thug that was holding a terrified Tsunami close to him, one hand around her waist, knife point denting the skin of her cheek as he absently traced random designs on her cheek.

"I thought that he was supposed to be the Demon of the Mist? Bah, what a weakling, of he couldn't take down a couple of soft Konoha shinobi." Kakashi's normal eye narrowed at that. He knew that Konoha was considered the softest of the villages, but this man seemed to equate that softness with weakness. Even Kiri, probably the second most powerful shinobi village acknowledged Konoha's superiority.

"Shut your foul mouth. Someone like you has no business speaking of Zabuza-san in that manner."

"Oh, what is this? The baby demon's pet?"

"Don't you DARE disrespect my master!" the boy at Kakashi's feet snarled.

"Would someone please shut him up? As grateful as I am for the kid and his master for weakening the other ninja, he is getting annoying."

"Sure thing Gato-sama," a slender mercenary with a pair of snakelike daggers said. "I bet you have pretty screams." The man and the double handful of his compatriots who had stepped forward halted as their intended victim formed some handseals and the puddled water on the bridge rose in the air and formed into a hundred frozen senbon.

"Die," the ice-nin growled, taking a hold of a pair and dashing forward. Gato quickly retreated as Haku tore through his guards, only paying attention to the mercenaries if the got directly between him and Gato.

Kakashi stepped forward to pull Tsunami away from the bloodbath that was occurring in front of her, shielding her eyes from seeing Haku thrust a senbon through each of Gato's eyes and a third through his throat. The boy swayed before collapsing over Gato's corpse, clearly dead, or on the doorstep, even at that distance.

The remainder of the mercenary company stood there for a moment before turning their eyes on the remaining shinobi, who had all gathered around Kakashi. "Well, damn, that boy killed our meal ticket. I guess we will have to take it out on your hides."

Kakashi grimaced. Looking around, the only ones who appeared to be in any condition to fight were Tenten, Sasuke, and maybe Hinata. Kiba and Akamaru were barely on their feet and there was no way that Sakura could do what would be necessary. His own fault, he supposed, but nothing he could not correct right now. As he was preparing to speak, something very large and shiny spun by him from behind, hitting the leader of the mercs and blowing him back into his fellows. At the same time, there was a series of loud cracks and the pungent odor of blackpowder.

It was that silver sword that Naruto toted around, the blade buried to the tsuba in the dead man's chest. Almost as one, the assorted ninja looked back to where the sword had flown from. Naruto was hunched over, looking very battered, his pants ripped off at the knee and wearing his trenchcoat without a shirt, bracers and greaves showing, along with his very toned physique. But what was most attention grabbing was the bandages wrapped around his chest, and an alarmingly large bloodstain over about where his heart was, and a not-so-small trail of blood dripping down his chest. Behind him was Inari and what appeared to be the entire village formed in two ranks in a surprisingly disciplined formation. The first rank composed of no more than a dozen men, were kneeling, armed with rifles of all things. The second rank, which was most of the villagers were all armed with various pointy object that could be used to harm someone. Kakashi thought he saw a sharpened shovel somewhere in the middle.

The silver-haired jounin looked down to Anko who was scowling. "I told him to stay at Tazuna's house. Damned brat can't do anything he is told."

"In this case, Anko-san, I think he can be forgiven." Kakashi turned back to the crowd of mercenaries. "Boo," he whispered. A second later, the mercenaries were in full retreat leaving the dead behind.

When Naruto saw that he winced in pain and collapsed. Immediately, Anko and Tenten were dashing towards him, with Hinata hot on their heels. Kiba looked from a prostrate Naruto to where his sword was with wide eyes. "Damn," he muttered. Kakashi couldn't agree more.

Down the bridge Naruto was starting to wish he had stayed at Tazuna's like his mother had told him. He had toppled forward and spit out a mouthful of blood. Tenten and Anko gently rolled him over to examine him.

"Goddammit Naruto. There was a reason why I told you to stay at the house. You have completely reopened your wound."

Naruto just grunted, which brought another pained wince to his face. Tenten had wet a scrap of cloth down and was using it to wipe the blood off his face. "Sorry Mom, but I couldn't stand by and do nothing. Plus Inari wanted to go get the villagers to back him up. It was pretty easy really, after I showed off a couple of my wounds."

Anko looked up as a shadow fell over her. "Kakashi, do you know any healing techniques?"

Looking at Naruto for a second he sighed. "Nothing to fix that. I can fix bruises, maybe a hairline fracture of a bone, but an injury like that is beyond my ability. You need a real medic-nin for that."

Anko twisted her mouth in displeasure. "Oh well."

"Oh well? That's it? Naruto looks like he got stabbed through the heart! What?" Sakura asked when she saw the looks that the three women of Team Nine exchanged.

"Well, the thing is, I kinda was." At Sakura's look of dawning horror, he quickly amended "ne, don't worry, Sakura-chan. I'll be fine soon enough."

Sakura looked like she was about to protest but Kakashi spoke up first. "Why don't we head back to Tazuna's and debrief there. I am sure that you four can answer all our questions there."

"That sounds like a good idea." She looked up from her son. "We need a stretcher though. Naruto is in no condition to be moving on his own."

"Hey there, hold on. I'm fine. I can walk!" That remark was met with supreme disbelief by the Team Seven genin, although, Sasuke was feigning disinterest.

"I call bullshit," Kiba said, but was instantly forgotten when Anko stuck her index finger into his wound, twisting it around and causing him to fall back with a rictus snarl.

"Fucking bitch," Naruto managed to grunt. Meanwhile Team Seven, minus Sasuke, all exchanged looks of varying degrees of shock. If Tenten and Hinata's total lack of reaction to Anko harsh treatment was anything to go by, then none of them ever wanted to be subjected to Anko's tender mercies while wounded.

A moment later, a pair of villagers walked up, with a makeshift stretcher, using a pair of their long rifles to carry him. Naruto was lifted up on it and everyone made the trek back to the village to recuperate, Tazuna's house having been trashed.

Ten minutes later the six shinobi and one dog were all seated around a mostly conscious Naruto in the largest suite that the village inn had. He had been tucked into a futon, with the blankets wrapped tightly so that he couldn't move and potentially aggravate his injury. Tenten was seated at the top of the group, Naruto's head in her lap, allowing her to play with his hair. Next were Kakashi and Anko, seated across from each other, with Hinata below Anko, then Sakura. Sasuke and Kiba were on Naruto's other side, with Sasuke next to Kakashi.

"Care to start off, if you please Anko?"

"Sure," she replied gruffly. "We left the house at 0500 this morning and arrived at the edge of the bandit camp at 0530. After a bit of planning, we began out assault. I directed Naruto to use his Shadow Clone Technique to make a diversionary force so that Tenten and Hinata could search out any commanders in the camp. I then took a dozen of his clones and worked my way to what appeared to be the command tent. Upon arrival, the Naruto clones killed the guards and I entered the tent.

"The commander was there, but was more than I could handle." At this the four members of Team Seven gave Anko a questioning look. Anko was one of Konoha's premier assassins, who could be more than she could handle? "The commander was a samurai, fully trained, not at all like the two-bit thugs you faced today." This only confused the genin more, but Kakashi understood now. Kakashi explained when he saw that none of the genin understood what she was talking about.

"There are three militant forces in each of the five great countries. The samurai, ninja and monks. This is so that if one force were to ever attempt a coup or go rogue, the daimyo has two other armies to handle them. There is also a tripod of power between each force. Generally speaking, a samurai will kill a ninja, who will kill a monk, who will kill a samurai.

"The samurai have a chakra-negating ability that makes them immune form virtually every form of ninja combat. Genjutsu and taijutsu are worth only the amount of chakra that they waste, because the samurai can form a disruptive cocoon of chakra around them that will destroy any chakra construct and use it to power itself. Really, the best way to kill a samurai is to get him alone somewhere and then exhaust his chakra reserves. Without the cocoon, they are no more than expert swordsmen. Taijutsu can be an iffy proposition to use most of the time, because the vast majority of taijutsu styles use some amount of chakra in them. The three ninja that would have the easiest time killing a samurai are you Tenten, Maito Gai and his student Rock Lee. That is because there is no chakra in a kunai, and the two Green Beasts taijutsu does not use any chakra at all, their strength coming from physical conditioning.

"A ninja will kill a monk most of the time because while the monks are able to seallessly able to manipulate the elements, it requires them to stay still, and then it is a mere matter of a kunai applied to the eye to beat them.

"Most monks are retired samurai and have developed techniques to counter samurai, like the ability to use the environment against their foe. While ninja can duplicate many of the things that monks can do, monks are somehow able to do them without chakra, something they hold as a S-class secret. We have been trying to discover the secret for as long as they have existed, but they have some unknown means of detecting spies, and are returned to us with no memory of what went on in the monks temple."

"Anyways, I was able to hold the samurai off until I was able to call Naruto to back me up. He was able to kill him, by allowing the samurai to stab him through the chest." Kiba, Sakura and even Sasuke gave the former dobe of the Academy disbelieving looks at that news. Although, it did match up with his wound.

"We were heading back to Tazuna's house do discover it had been ransacked and Tsunami kidnapped. I left Naruto here with Inari and brought the rest of my team to assist you." She doubted that any of the members of Team Seven would take well to being told that they were rescued. Anko was not oblivious to the glare that Sasuke was directing to Naruto. He was doubtlessly wondering how Naruto had gotten so strong, and how to gain that power for himself. She would have to warn Naruto. "And you know everything after that."

"Actually, Anko, I have something to add." If looks could kill, the glare that Sasuke sent to Tenten would have killed, dismembered, burned and then scattered the ashes to the wind.

"And what is that, Tenten-san?"

"On the bridge, Anko told me to assist the Uchiha. However, when I came within earshot, neither he nor his opponent were fighting, or even acting hostile. The man was the leader of the ninja that accosted us on the trip to Kiri." That prompted a brief summary of the ocean battle. "Anyways, the man had a hitai-aite this time, but with no symbol that I recognized. It was a musical quarter note. Also, the man referred to Orochimaru, along with some other things that I didn't understand."

"You wouldn't, none of you would. The man was a liar. He spoke of things that none of you could comprehend."

"And what, pray tell, are those things that we couldn't possibly understand?"

"A personal matter."

No matter how they pried and threatened, Anko promising to have him up on charges for disobeying a direct order from a superior officer, that is all he would say.

The progress on the raced to completion, especially once Naruto had recovered enough to start helping out. Of course, it was never just him on the job, but anywhere from several dozen to several hundred Narutos helping out. Naruto secretly enjoyed the stupefied looks from Team Seven the first time they visited the bridge when Naruto was helping out. A couple hundred copies of the same boy scattered across the entire bridge was more than slightly disconcerting, something he took full advantage of.

But with a bottomless pool of workers to draw from, the bridge was completed far too quickly for the tastes of some. Five days after the battle on the bridge, the villagers and two teams of Konoha genin gathered on the bridge to make their farewells.

As the ninja walked off Inari spoke up. "Hey Grandpa, what are we going to call the bridge?"

"How about the 'Super Awesome Bridge That the Kickass Bridgebuilder Tazuna Made'?"

"HELL NO!" the villagers shouted in concert.

"Eesh, no need to be so vehement about it," Tazuna muttered.

"How about the 'Bridge of Courage'?" Tsunami spoke without looking away from the distant dots that were the saviors of Wave.

"That sounds good. A lot better than Tazuna's suggestion anyways." Tazuna crossed his arms and sulked while the villagers agreed that the second suggestion was much better than the first.


	10. Discussions

**Chapter 10: Discussions**

After three days of almost nonstop travel, the group reached the great white walls of Konohagakure no Sato, shining in the early afternoon light. When the great archway became visible, Teams Anko and Kakashi dropped out of the trees, slowing to a more sedate pace as they approached the gate on the dirt road.

Anko led the group to the guardhouse, showing her passport, telling the guard that they were returning from a successfully completed mission. The chunin on duty nodded, taking down the pertinent details before waving them in barely glancing at Team Nine's new equipment.

Naruto had his hands behind his head, fingers interlaced, savoring his first look at his home in almost a month. He was interrupted from his introspection by Anko. "Alright guys, good work on your first successfully completed mission. Normally, I would go and file the mission report by myself, but given some of the more unusual occurrences," she said, looking at her three genin, "I think we should go to the debriefing together." Without a further word, Anko spun on her heel and marched towards the center of town. Tenten sighed. She had really been looking forward to starting on her special project as soon as she got home, but it looked like it would have to wait, for a little bit at least.

Kakashi caught up to them a minute later after having dismissed his own team. Naruto was used to the looks of hatred, disgust, and tiny amounts of _ki _directed his way, but he was garnering a lot more attention than usual thanks to his katana slung across his back. He tried to shrug it off, but he still shifted slightly uncomfortably under all the stares.

Naruto gave a minuscule sigh of relief when they entered the Hokage's tower. Most of the ninja in the tower ignored him, either too absorbed in their work, or simply apathetic as to why his appearance had changed. Anko halted at the receptionist's desk outside the Hokage's office. The male chunin on duty didn't look up from his work, gesturing to one side, saying in a bored tone, "place your mission report in the basket, and the Hokage will contact you for a mission debriefing if he deems it necessary."

Anko stared down at the man. "I need to give my report in person. There have been some developments that I believe that he need be made aware of immediately."

The chunin looked up from his work. Looking back, he caught sight of Naruto, Hinata and Tenten. He knew the brat, and was actually one of probably the handful of ninja in the village who had respected the Yondaime's request that the boy not be regarded as the prisoner, but as the jailer. He had seen the boy often enough to know him on sight, and him and his teammates new armaments caught him by surprise. Bending down again, he consulted a small book. "Very well. The Hokage is free at the moment. You may enter."

Anko nodded gratefully, glad to have caught someone who would demand that they apply through the proper channels to see the Hokage. She hated political bullshit like that.

"Leave the paperwork on the desk Sano-kun," the Hokage gesturing to a free space on his desk. Anko coughed, making the elderly ninja look up. "Oh, I'm sorry Anko-san. I thought you were Sano coming in with more paperwork. I am relieved to see that you don't have any more paperwork. What may I do for you seem to have made it home unharmed."?" Sarutobi leaned back in his chair, grateful for the interruption that Anko had provided.

"Teams Nine and Seven reporting for debriefing, Hokage-sama." The Hokage leaned forward expectantly.

"Very well, lets hear it."

Anko spread her legs apart and folded her hands behind her, easing into a parade rest as she told the old man about the events that had prompted her to talk to him personally. His eyebrows rose when she said that her team had been attacked by a small group of shinobi tentatively identified as from Oto on the way to Kirigakure, demanding that they hand the courier over, along with the other power that Naruto, Tenten and Hinata had awakened during the fight with a very abbreviated description of their abilities. He had noticed the three genin's swords, but had refrained on commenting on them, as he figured that they would be explained in due course.

He frowned slightly when Anko went on to describe their reception upon arriving in Wave, and sent a very direct look at Kakashi when Anko mentioned both Sasuke and himself trying to use their Sharingans on her team, to which Kakashi shifted slightly. His frown deepened in concern when he heard about Naruto's Kyuubi-induced berserker rage in his fight against the samurai.

"I will have to recall one of my students to have a look at the seal. It is my understanding that this was to happen eventually, but not so early."

"I appreciate the gesture Hokage-sama. I was planning on beginning to work with Naruto on learning about the seal now that it has gotten to this point."

"Hm... That sounds like an excellent notion Anko-san. Jiraiya can assist you in that manner also when he arrives."

Anko nodded. "However, I do wish to mention two things I noticed once I left Naruto at the bridgebuilders residence and arrived at the bridge with Team Seven already engaged to the enemy. Uchiha Sasuke contributed almost nothing to the fight, content to talk to the leader of the ninjas that accosted us on the way to Kirigakure. Tenten was able to overhear part of their conversation before she was detected. A number of disturbing things were mentioned, the least of which was that Takehiko, the ninja talking to Sasuke, referred to Orochimaru, several times, repeating how Orochimaru was stronger than anyone else in the village."

Hiruzen's eyebrows nearly vanished into his hair at those words. "Kakashi, is what she says true?"

"While I did question Sasuke about the man he spoke to, he was reluctant to answer any of my questions. He claimed it was a personal matter and refused to speak further. At the time, I was more concerned with getting Anko's genin, Naruto in particular medical attention than grilling Sasuke."

"I see," was the Hokage's enigmatic response. He frowned in thought as he motioned for Anko to continue.

"In the end, the man Sasuke was speaking to vanished and Gato, Zabuza and his apprentice Haku all died. That is all I have to say."

"Kakashi-kun, do you have anything to add?"

The Hatake shook his head. "Not at this time Hokage-sama."

Now he say back, folding he hands across his stomach, considering the implications of Naruto and Company's new abilities.

Sighing, he spoke to the four ninja. "I am going to have to report their new abilities to the Shinobi Council unfortunately. They will undoubtedly want to interview you," he said gazing at Naruto, "to determine whether or not your abilities constitute a new kekkei genkai or not although the fact that what appears to be the same power manifested itself in the three of you simultaneously implies otherwise. Then you will have to have all your powers recorded." The Hokage held up a hand, silencing the boy before he spoke. "I assure you, this is not to steal you abilities, but to have a documentation of them, in the astronomically low chance that similar power were to manifest in another outside Team Nine. Even then, only the most general description will be used. You will not have to give up any specifics about the mechanics of your abilities, just what you can do, in the most general sense. Every technique ever created has gone through this process, including the Nara's shadow manipulation, the Akamichi's size manipulation, even the Jyuuken has been recorded, again, only in the most general manner."

Naruto calmed down at this, hearing they weren't going to be a special case. "For now however, you are dismissed. You will be summoned, probably in the next couple of days, to speak to the council." The three genin and two jounin departed, leaving Sarutobi alone to his thoughts. "This is going to cause a lot of trouble." He had no clue how right he was.

Tenten and Hinata were dismissed for the day, Anko instructing the pair to return home immediately to recuperate. Naruto, on the other hand, she had plans for. She allowed her son to unpack his gear and get a shower before dragging him down to the den. "So, allow me to introduce you to what is going to be the most frustrating aspect of your schooling for the foreseeable future. Sealing techniques. Now that you have awoken the Kyuubi's power, we will be spending several hours a day studying seals. As a Jinchuuriki, it would be foolhardy for you to be ignorant of how the seal on your stomach functions." Pushing him down onto the overstuffed leather couch, she reached over the back and withdrew the first scroll. She unrolled it over both of their laps and started to explain the intricacies of the most complex type of ninja techniques.

Anko figured that she would focus mostly on the basics until Jiraiya could arrive, and then he could take over.

OoOoO

As soon as Anko dismissed her and Hinata, Tenten gave Naruto a peck on the cheek and was off at a full sprint. The oil-cloth-wrapped bundle was all she had been able to think of the entire trip home. She had not wanted to start studying it in the field, lest she somehow irreparably damage it. She wanted to take her time studying it, making sure she understood exactly how it operated, how to take it apart and put it back together in operational order. Her parents barely got a wave before she was up in her room and the object of her desire was waiting for her. Rubbing her palms together in anticipation, she took a deep breath to calm herself and unwrapped her prize. She almost reverently laid aside the last fold of oil-cloth, then immediately spoiled the atmosphere by seizing the rifle, now unwrapped, and jumping up and down in a fit of uncontrollable joy.

Regaining control, she once again laid the firearm down on her coverlet and took several minutes to review her notes painstakingly written out longhand in Wave.

After Teams Seven and Nine had finally run the last of Gato's thugs out of Wave, Tazuna, who had been elected to speak for the village asked if there was anything they could give the ninja for saving the village. Kakashi had politely declined any reward on behalf of his team, but Tenten had been eying one of the rifles. Now firearms were not inexpensive, but the owner of the gun had been more than happy to part with it.

Gato had attacked the village before the bridge had been completed, so the former owner of her rifle had given her some instruction on how to operate and maintain her gun. She had spent a good amount of time at the run-down firing range at the outskirts of the village learning how to aim and hit her target. So far, she had not been able to get more than a glancing hit at anything farther tan fifty yards, but she had the basics down, and now it was just a matter of refining her technique.

The last thing the man had taught her was how to manufacture her own ammunition, seeing as it was unlikely that she would be able to buy what she needed already made. Fortunately black powder was easy enough to make, the prime ingredients being sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter. There was a forge in the back of the house, and she figured that she would be able to modify one of the finer grinding wheels into a mill to grind up the black powder.

Withdrawing a small notebook and several measuring instruments, Tenten began to meticulously record every possible measurement as she slowly deconstructed the weapon. Everything was measured, from the length, width and thickness of the barrel, to the trigger, its guard, the nipple and the hammer.

Tenten was carefully examining the rear ladder sight when she was startled out of her perusal by a loud knock on her door. As soon as she was able to swallow her heart again, she told her visitor to enter. Kouseki took a second to look at the carnage laid out on a large sheet covering most of Tenten's floor. Raising an eyebrow he said "Your mother and I were wondering what was going on up here. You get home from your mission apparently unharmed, give us a wave and vanish up here for the rest of the day." And to her surprise, when she looked out the window, there was a tiny sliver of sun remaining visible. Reaching back to scratch her head in a very Naruto-like gesture she laughed.

"Sorry about that Father. I got this rifle a couple of days ago, and this was the first opportunity I have had to really study it. I guess I got kinda absorbed."

"Really? Where did you get it from?"

"Ah, one of the villagers we rescued gifted it to me."

"I see. Well, dinner is on now, but after would you mind showing me how it works? Maybe I can help you out somehow?"

"Well, I am just about done getting the measurements for it. I might need help to get some of the materials for the ammo though. I am going to need sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter for the gunpowder as well as some really stiff paper for the cartridge as well as some beeswax or tallow."

"Beeswax?"

"For lubricant."

"Ah." Stroking his chin for a few seconds, he examined the rifle spread out on the sheet. "You know this isn't going to be a very effective weapon for you to use when you have to fight. It takes a long time to load a rifle, and they are really noisy."

"Maybe right now, but I have an idea or two."

"Alright then. Exactly how much sulfur and saltpeter do you need?"

"I need about half a gram of black powder for a single shot, so a kilo of everything should keep me for a while."

"Okay, I can do that pretty easily. What about the materials for your gun? You going to make another or are you going to keep just the one?"

"Just the one for the moment, but as soon as I understand how this works well enough, I will probably want one or two more."

Picking up the barrel, he slid a finger inside and felt the rifling. Putting it down he considered the disassembled weapon. "Depending on exactly how complex some of this stuff is, I think I could make one of these in a couple of days. Can you make me a blueprint?"

"Yeah. Putting it together isn't going to be the hard part though. I also need to find somewhere to set up a firing range. The guy I got this from could hit a man-sized target at a thousand yards. Right now, I am having trouble with targets further than fifty. So I need some serious practice. Probably going to have to go to one of the outer training areas to get the range I need."

"If you say so. Anyways, dinner is on. I came up here to let you know before you sidetracked me."

"Okay, I'll be down in a minute."

OoOoO

Naruto's eye jerked open as the blaring _beep beep beep _of his alarm clock forcefully ripped him from blissful unconsciousness. Smacking the off switch, he noted that the sun was already up. He lay in his bed for a minute, thankful that Anko had given him a reprieve from their early morning workout sessions for once.

Racing through his morning ablutions, he downed half a dozen ramen cups and waited impatiently for Anko to drag her sorry ass downstairs. He heard her thumping about upstairs so she would be down soon. When she stumbled downstairs he snatched her hand and started to bolt out the door.

Sighing exaggeratedly, she said, "Not this morning brat."

"Why? What's going on?"

"You got an appearance with the Council in ten minutes."

"Already? I thought they wouldn't call me up for another couple of days."

"Yeah right brat. They want to know exactly what kind of techniques you three have come up with, and want them down on paper."

"I still don't like how I have to hand over all my secrets to them just so they can write them down."

"That is tough brat. Even my personal techniques are recorded somewhere in the vaults. So don't feel like you are a special case here."

Scowling, he nodded slowly and followed her to the Hokage's tower, finding that Tenten and Hinata had also been summoned when he met them at the doors. Once admitted, they were directed to the Council chamber.

Squeezing him on the shoulder once for courage, she stepped back and let them enter the room alone. Naruto entered the room, looking around in curiosity. The room was rather Spartan, consisting of one oblong table for the Council, and a number of smaller tables around the wall, laden with coffee, tea, sweetbreads, and the like. The wall to the left was entirely occupied by a floor to ceiling window, displaying a panoramic view of the village. But right now, Naruto's attention was focused solely on the dozen or so men and women seated at the table.

He recognized a few of them, namely the Hokage at the head, the long haired, white eyed guy who was unmistakably a Hinata's father, a wild-looking woman who was probably an Inuzuka, a pineapple haired man that was obviously related to Shikamaru, a guy with shades and a high collar who was probably an Aburame, and a fat guy, who, judging by the swirly tattoos on his cheeks was probably Choji's father, or a close relative. There were a number of others he did not recognize, but realized that they were probably influential shinobi.

With a look that conveyed his sorrow at forcing the genin element of Team Nine to be here, Sarutobi called the meeting to order. "Genin Hyuuga-san, Genin Higurashi-san, Genin Uzumaki-san, you are called before the Shinobi Council because it is reported in the mission scroll for C-rank mission 90125842 you displayed heretofore unknown abilities in combat with four identified shinobi and two Kiri nuke-nin. Is this correct?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama," echoed by his compatriots. Naruto was tempted to refer to him by his personal moniker, but refrained, realizing that antagonizing the Council here would not be beneficial to his case.

"Genin Hyuuga-san, Genin Higurashi-san, Genin Uzumaki-san, are these jutsu derived from family jutsu, or an unknown kekkei genkai?"

"No, Hokage-sama." Naruto replied. Hinata and Tenten had elected him their spokesman for the moment it seemed.

"Were these jutsu taught to you by a foreign shinobi?"

"No, Hokage-sama."

"Are these jutsu of your own original conception?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama." At this most of the Council set to muttering. How was it that the demon brat could invent several techniques at the same time without anyone knowing? And that was completely discounting Hinata and Tenten. The Hokage rapped his gavel once, silencing the whispering. The Hyuuga at the table raised his hand, signaling he had something to say to the Council.

The Hokage leaned back wincing. "I yield the floor to Hyuuga Hiashi-san."

The Hyuuga Head stood up. "I propose an Order in Council classifying these new jutsu as general knowledge jutsu, to be taught as appropriate when ranked."

"Absolutely not." All heads whipped to Naruto who was standing at the foot of the table, arms crossed, eyes flashing angrily.

"Genin Uzumaki-san, you do not have permission to address the Council at this time. Please restrain yourself at this time." Hiashi turned to address the Council again, when Naruto's voice rang out again.

"Fuck that and fuck you." Naruto had shrugged Tenten's restraining hand on his shoulder. He was too angry at Hiashi right now to listen to reason. Everyone present gasped at the insult thrown at the head of the First Clan. The Hokage sighed wearily. He had feared that something like this would happen, but now that Naruto had brazenly insulted the Hyuugas, there was very little he could do for the moment.

"What do you mean by that, Genin Uzumaki-san?"

"I mean that you are discussing about taking _my _jutsu and teaching them to everyone in the village. Screw that. They are mine, and will remain so. The only people that I will teach them to are those I deem worthy and trust implicitly, and when the time comes, those of my family. The Nara's and Akamichi's weren't required to give out all their secrets when they first came up with their family jutsus, so I don't see why I should. Besides, I doubt that anyone else could learn my jutsu."

The Council sat there in shock. Naruto grinned internally. He doubted that anyone had spoken to them like that in a long time, if ever.

Seizing on the least part of what he had said, Hiashi addressed him again. "What do you mean, you don't think that anyone else could learn your techniques? You said that they weren't a result of a kekkei genkai. Plus your two teammates seem to have very similar abilities, so if they can manifest this new power others should be able to also."

"I am certain they are not, however, my new techniques are based on a power other than chakra that I awoke during the mission. It is possible that some people could awaken the same power as Hinata and Tenten have, but if they were to, I don't think that their power would be the same as mine."

"What is the name of this power?"

Naruto knew he should shut up now, but the Council had really irritated him, and he couldn't help taunting them. "It's called spirit power, and is drawn from a different source than chakra."

When he said this, everyone started talking at once, discussing the possibilities of the use of another energy separate from chakra. Naruto stood there, slightly shocked. Had they forgotten what he had just said about him not teaching anyone else his jutsu? Closing his eyes, he focused inwards, compressing his reiryoku and released it as spiritual pressure. All conversation ceased as the Council members felt what appeared to be an increase in gravity as the ground trembled ever so slightly.

"I thought I said that my techniques would stay with me. I don't care what you say, there is no way I am sharing them with anyone other than my family. I understand that a general description will be written, but that is the best anyone will get out of me." He paused and looked to either side, suddenly remembering that he was not the only one there. "I have no control over either of my teammates, so they could pass this ability on if they wished, but I am not going to share my hard won power with just anyone." Naruto let up on the reiatsu and suddenly it was easier for everyone to breathe. Shocked at his blatant display of power, the Council looked away from him, muttering about the Kyuubi brat getting too much power.

At the mention of the prisoner within him, his rage flared. He had turned to leave without being dismissed, but whirled back, focusing his reiatsu full force. This time the weight was at least a third greater, and the trembling was very distinct.

"Too much power? You think I have shown too much power? Trust me this is nothing compared to my real power. I could embrace the demon within me, and yes, I know about the Kyuubi that my biological father, the Yondaime Hokage, had sealed in me, and there isn't _anything _that you, anything _anyone _could do to stop me. You call me the demon brat, yet you know nothing of the difference between the prisoner and the prison! I am a loyal shinobi of Konohagakure, but I have little reason to love this place. Don't hold any illusions about how I feel towards you. Because of you, I have been hated my entire life, for nothing that I can control. I thank Sandaime-sama for trying to protect me with his law, but you managed to circumvent it anyways, by telling your children that I was dangerous, that I am to be avoided. The one flaw that the old man has is that he is too trusting, too forgiving. But back to my original point. Do you want to see a bit of my true power?" With that he brought up a hand, two fingers out, thumb folded over the remaining three. His visage twisted and bits of electricity began coalescing around his hand. His eyes shifted a shade or two darker and his hair stirred ever so faintly.

Alarmed, the Sandaime Hokage shot to his feet. "Naruto, stand down at once!"

Naruto turned to face his idol, who shrank back slightly at the hate and rage on his face. Holding his sparking fist pointed at the Hyuuga a moment longer, he released his power, the electricity dissipating and the weight lifting, black attire shifting back. "Hai, Hokage-sama." With one last sneer to the Council, he spun on his heel and departed. Everyone in the tower moved out of his way as they sensed the barely restrained power and simmering rage in the young man, black clothes appearing and disappearing as he struggled to control his temper. Tenten and Hinata exchanged an uncertain look, unsure what to do. Naruto had left but neither of them had been dismissed. The Council appeared to had forgotten about them so the Hokage made a shooing gesture, giving them permission to leave. Hopefully the Council would forget their presence at this meeting. Neither had uttered a handful of words, rather foolishly in hindsight letting Naruto have free rein on his tongue.

The Hokage slumped back in his seat after Naruto departed, ignoring the shouts that had erupted. He had never suspected that the blond boy held so much resentment for the Council. He had failed, it appeared. He had tried to shield Naruto from as much of the Councils machinations as possible, telling them of the Yondaime's last request, and when it was obvious that they didn't care, instituted the law that Naruto had mentioned. "I'm sorry Naruto," he whispered while the Council raged on.

OoOoO

Anko met them outside the double doors to the Council Chamber, left them soon after, saying that she still had some business in the tower. When the three remaining genin exited through the great oaken doors, Tenten took a breath and rallied her courage. "Naruto-kun," she said, in an unusually demure tone, "are you doing anything this evening?"

"Ah, not really Tenten-chan. Why, do you need something?"

"Well, not really. You see, the thing is, I was wondering if you would be willing to go out on a date with me tonight?"

"Sure Tenten-chan, I would love to."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Tenten's face bolted up, a nearly painfully wide smile splitting her face. "Excellent! Okay, you can come pick me up at half past six, don't be late. Pick someplace nice, Naruto-kun." Without another word she turned and skipped away, feet barely touching the ground. Naruto looked after her, wondering at his luck and walked away towards his apartment.

It wasn't until Naruto was unlocking the door to his house did he realize something. Well, multiple somethings. One, he had no idea where Tenten lived. Two, he had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do on a date. Three, while he knew he was supposed to take her to some place nice, he hadn't a clue where to take her. He had only discovered Ichiraku's because he hadn't been able to find a restaurant that would serve him that day. Whirling around he ran to the two people he could trust to help him. Anko was completely off limits for this kind of thing.

He arrived five minutes later at Ichiraku's Ramen Bar. He collapsed onto one of the stools, panting slightly. Teuchi approached him, leaning on the counter to talk to his only customer for the moment.

"Hey there Naruto. It's been rather lonely here at the stand without you to visit us? What happened?"

Naruto told Teuchi and his daughter Ayame of the mission to Kiri and Wave, glossing over the greater portion in favor of speed. Getting to the end of his tale, he told them of how Tenten had asked him out on a date tonight when they reached the gates. "But, uh, the thing is, I have absolutely no idea what I am supposed to do. I was hoping that I could get some advice from Ayame-chan."

Ayame, who remembered the brunette with buns had clasped her hands together, with miniature hearts in her eyes. "Don't worry, leave it to me Naruto." Teuchi shook his head laughing softly. He lowered the security gate. He figured that they could afford to close the stand early once in a while.

OoOoO

Naruto was seriously starting to question the wisdom in asking Ayame for help. She had practically ripped her apron off, snatched his hand and went tearing across town, dragging him to his house. He had let them into his abode, and Ayame had gone to work. First she went into his room, searching through his clothes for something appropriate to wear on a first date.

A few minutes later, his bedroom looked like a war zone, all his clothes dug out of his closet and drawers, strewn across his bed and floor haphazardly. She had found an outfit that Anko had bought for him one day before the mission to Kiri.

**Flashback no jutsu**

It was a week after his first shopping trip for clothes. The team had broken early, Tenten and Hinata had been dismissed, but Anko snatched him by his collar when he tried to escape.

"And where do you think you are going, brat?"

"You said we were done for the day."

"Did I? Hmm… well I lied. You and me are going shopping again."

"Shopping! Shopping for what?"

"You don't have any formal wear."

"What would I need formal wear for?"

"Well, what do you think you are supposed to wear on a date? Do you think you could get into a decent restaurant in that?" She said gesturing dismissively at his training clothes. "And when I say decent restaurant, I mean some place other than Ichiraku's," heading off his argument.

Naruto gave up, just figuring it would be easier to let her have her way that fight her about it. Besides, she had a point he supposed.

**Flashback no jutsu kai**

Ayame held up the clothes, imagining what they would look like on him. "This will do I suppose. You really need some more clothes to wear outside of training Naruto."

He sighed and went into the bathroom to change. He emerged, a few minutes later, looking like a completely different person. He was wearing a red long sleeve button down shirt with grey pinstripes tucked into tan slacks with a black leather dress belt. Over that he wore his tan trenchcoat with the black swirl and tails symbol. Hurrying over, she hauled him over to the sink, turning on the tap and wetting a brush down. But no matter how she tried, she couldn't get his hair to lie down in any sort of orderly fashion. Giving it up as a bad job she stood back to admire her handiwork.

"My my you do clean up nicely, brat."

Naruto reacted purely on instinct, falling into a stance used when ambushed by an unknown number of foes in an unknown number of directions. Anko caught his chop easily, smirking wider. "That was pathetic, runt. That chop wouldn't have caught a civilian off guard, let alone me."

Naruto scowled. "What do you want Mom? As you can see, I am a little busy right now. We just got back from a mission, so you can't be here to drag me off to train."

"Well, if you are going to be rude, I guess I will keep the money."

"Wait, what do you mean, keep the money?" Anko was an okay parent, but he could never imagine her giving him a wad of cash out of the kindness of her heart, mostly because she didn't have one. He had never had an allowance before and couldn't imagine why she would start now.

"Your share of the pay for the completion of an A-ranked mission, and the bounties for Zabuza and Haku." Anko tossed him a voucher. We will have to go to one of the banks to cash that. Mission hall doesn't have enough money on hand for it. We will go down to the bank I use a bit later, and we can get an account set up for you." Normally, with C and D-rank missions, one could go directly to what many had termed the 'finance ghoul,' the lady who ran the accounting department, and deposit their vouchers directly into the special shinobi accounts kept in the tower. But with anything over C-rank, one had to go to one of the civilian banks to cash the voucher, and then deposit into the shinobi vault.

Naruto looked up at his mom and actually smiled at her, expression his gratitude in that one expression. Just then, he heard a discreet cough from behind him. Whirling around blushing furiously, he faced his other two house guests. Teuchi stood up and extended a hand to the pineapple-haired woman.

"It is nice to see you again Anko-san."

"Likewise," she replied taking the proffered hand.

"Sorry about barging into your home, but Ayame was helping Naruto get ready for a date," Teuchi commented.

"Now why didn't you ask your dear old mother for help? I would have been more than happy to help," Anko stated, leering at her student/son.

Naruto scowled. "And therein lies the problem."

Anko grinned before excusing. "Oh of course. I don't think I have ever heard him have a bad thought about you, Anko-san."

"I am sure that is true," turning an amused glance on Naruto, telling him that she knew that Teuchi was lying on his behalf, and was most likely going to pay for it. Her business concluded, she excused herself. There were people to bother.

Turning back to Naruto, Ayame began giving Naruto a crash course in dating.

OoOoO

_'What have I gotten myself into,' _Naruto was wondering. He had run over to Ichiraku's Ramen Bar at about one thirty. It was now edging on to five, and Ayame was still going strong. She had lectured him for two hours on proper etiquette for a formal restaurant, from how he wasn't supposed to wolf his food down, to make sure to make small talk with his date. There were a thousand things to remember, Naruto thought to his dismay, and each thing seemed like it was exactly the kind of thing that would get him and Tenten-chan ejected unceremoniously from the restaurant.

After that they had gone out to Teuchi and Ayame's house to grab a phone directory. From there they selected the restaurant that he was going to take Tenten out to, a western-style restaurant that Ayame frequented, knowing the manager there. After making a reservation, Ayame figured out where exactly Tenten lived, and called her. She handed the phone to Naruto as Tenten's father called for his daughter.

"Hello?" Tenten asked into the phone.

"Hey Tenten-chan, its me."

"Oh hey Naruto-kun, what is up?"

"I, ah, just wanted to let you know where we were going to go tonight, so you, uh, know how to get dressed."

"You aren't supposed to tell your date where you are going, Naruto-kun, its supposed to be a surprise."

"Err... okay then I guess... Oh, um, there was another reason why I wanted to call. The thing is, I don't really know where you live... Uh, so I don't know where to pick you up..."

On the other end, Tenten was turning a very Hinata-like shade of red. She hadn't counted on him not knowing her address. "Sorry, I kinda forgot to tell you." She told him her address, giving him directions from the Hokage's tower.

"Thanks Tenten-chan. See you in an hour."

"See you Naruto-kun." Naruto hung up the phone, exhaling a breath of relief. Well that was one hurdle passed. Tucking the directions in his pocket, he asked Ayame what was next.

"Now we gotta get you flowers." Naruto looked at Gama-chan in dismay. He was not going to like the severe diet that his wallet was going to be on, at this rate. Ignoring his look at his wallet, Ayame took his hand and led him out the door, allowing him to lock it behind him. Then she led the way to the Yamanaka flower shop. The door opened with a tinkling bell, and the girl at the counter responded with a mechanical "Welcome to Yamanaka Flowers, our flowers are as beautiful as your love," continuing to read her magazine as she talked.

Ayame approached the counter, garnering the girl's attention. "Hello, we need a flower arrangement for my friend here," gesturing to the dressed up Naruto. The girl, Ino, Naruto seemed to vaguely recall, looked up and looked at him. Then looked at him again. Her eyes widened and jaw dropped slightly. Was this Uzumaki Naruto? She barely knew the boy, mostly by reputation as the villages greatest troublemaker. Yet here he was, dressed up for a date, asking for flowers and nervous as hell.

She had been a year ahead of the blond shinobi, but she knew that he had a crush on her friend, Haruno Sakura. Surely she hadn't accepted one of his offers for a date? Immediately, she shifted into what her friends termed as her 'interrogator-mode." She blinked a couple times and looked at him through her lashes. "Who is the lucky girl, Naruto-san?"

"It's, ah, Higurashi Tenten, the weapons mistress," he muttered, averting his gaze. Ino didn't recognize the name, but she did recognize the description. Go figure. The girl had always struck her as too much of a tomboy to be interested in guys. "First date?"

"Kind of." She sat back thinking for a moment. Walking around the counter, she returned a few minutes later with a dozen flowers in her grip, shears in the other. White roses for innocence and pureness of love, and yellow dandelions for eternal devotion. Ino doubted that the blond boy knew the significance of the flowers, but his chaperone did, and she was sure that his date would. She wrapped them, trimming the stems to make them last longer, and completed the transaction. They both thanked her, and as soon as they were out the door, she was on the phone, dialing her best friend's number.

"What do you want Ino-pig?" came the voice.

"Can it Forehead-girl. You will never believe who just came in for flowers for a date." She was right, Sakura didn't believe her.

OoOoO

Taking a deep breath to attempt to kill some of the butterflies using his stomach as a playground, he knocked on the door resolutely, holding the flowers behind him. He knew from previous attempts to shop here that Tenten's father was one of the civilians that did not like him. He doubted that the man would allow him to catch a glimpse of Tenten if he were to come knocking with flowers in his hand.

The door opened, revealing the older mans sour visage. "What the hell are _you _doing here, demon?"

Uh, hello Higurashi-san. Is Tenten-chan home?" The weapons shop owner peered at the youth suspiciously. His daughter had been in her room most of the afternoon preparing for a date. He was sure he had warned her off the demon.

"Yes, she is. What do you need her for?"

"Ah, Anko-sensei said that we wanted to meet us all at the training grounds now for an emergency meeting."

"Well, Tenten is a little busy now. I will pass the message on." With that he started to close the door, but was interrupted.

"Hey Naruto-kun!" Tenten called from the stairs. Truthfully she had been waiting at the top of the stairs for twenty minutes now, in order to avoid just this event. Telling her father that she was aware of the meeting, she quickly made her way through the room and out the door, before he could question how she knew of an "emergency" meeting, and why she was going out all dressed up.

The pair quickly vacated the immediate area, and when they were several blocks away, Tenten hauled her date short. "Honestly Naruto, do you own anything other than your training clothes?"

"What? Oh yeah," Naruto said. He had come up with the idea to disguise himself into his more traditional garb, to avoid arousing undue suspicion. When he did, Tenten sighed in relief. She had feared that he was going to take her on a date in those clothes. Hopefully, he would avoid Ichiraku now.

Hesitating slightly, he brought his concealed hand from behind his back, handing the roses and dandelions to her. Tenten gasped and smiled. She doubted that Naruto had picked the arrangement, but the thought was what counted she supposed. She clutched the flowers to her bosom, drawing Naruto's attention to her attire. Tenten was wearing an ankle-length blue skirt and a pink blouse with frilly sleeves, tight enough around her bust to show her "assets" off, but not tight enough for her to poke through. The neck dipped low enough to show a pleasant expanse of pale bosom, showing a tiny bit of cleavage. Her hair was up in her trade mark buns, but she had a pair of ornately decorated chopsticks crossing through them. Her hair seemed shinier than before as well.

When Naruto had taken in her appearance, he grinned widely and said "wow, you're very pretty Tenten-chan," forgetting all of his earlier nervousness. He offered his arm to her, like Ayame had instructed him, and he lead the way to the restaurant. The waiter seemed to have some doubts about seating Naruto, and most of the occupants showered his with looks of disgust, but he brushed them off. He was on a date with a very pretty girl, in a very nice restaurant, and nothing was going to spoil the evening for him.

He decided as soon as he entered the eating establishment, that he would play the greatest prank that they had ever witnessed on them. He would be perfectly behaved, eating calmly and neatly, showing none of his usual boisterousness.

OoOoO

The evening had gone fantastically, Naruto mused, two and a half hours later, drowsing in his bed. They had staring off with onion ring appetizers, before he ordered a 64 ounce steak, and Tenten had ordered some baked chicken. The other occupants had stared unabashedly as Naruto exercised extreme self-control and behaved as a perfect gentleman. He had cut his meal into small bites and slowly used his fork to eat them. He drank his beverage at a sedate pace, not gulping it down in a handful of seconds.

They finished the meal off with slices of chocolate cake and a super-sized milkshake. Naruto paid the bill as he was supposed to, ignoring the flatness of his wallet. He would worry over that later. Smiling and thanking the waiter, he waltzed out of the restaurant, Tenten on his arm, grinning madly. That meal would be the topic of gossip for weeks to come. Anko, Kurenai, and Asuma dropped the Henges they had held throughout the meal as an elderly trio, rather surprised at Naruto's behavior. It certainly would warrant a good deal of discussion.

"Hey, pass me the binoculars," a certain pink haired girl whispered.

"Quiet Forehead-girl you are going to get us caught."

"It's my turn to watch, I wanna see too." Ino lowered the focusing lenses and sighed as she passed them to her best friend.

"Well, who'da thunk it, Naruto can actually act like a gentleman. I had thought that they would be driven out ten minutes into the meal, but they lasted the entire time."

"I know. I mean, he is nothing like how he was in the Academy. I wonder if he could be an impostor. That would explain why he was so good tonight."

"Why would anyone want to masquerade as Naruto on a date with Tenten-san?"

"Good point. Well, whatever the reason, it is certainly weird." Sakura passed the binoculars back to Ino-pig as she got up to shadow the couple away from the restaurant. Ino tucked them away and imitated her pink-haired counterpart. Unfortunately they parted ways two blocks before arriving at Tenten's house, Tenten leaned forward and gave Naruto a peck on the cheek, before departing. Naruto lingered at the corner a minute longer before heading home. The date completed, Sakura and Ino parted ways also.

Naruto gently caressed the cheek that Tenten had kissed, feeling oddly warm. The butterflies had departed hours ago, and now all that remained was a sense of peace. Naruto fell asleep with a smile curving his lips, playing that one scene over and over in his mind. He pushed the odd feeling that he had known the three elderly people eating in the next booth, and the unseen eyes that he had felt on him the entire time to the back of his brain. He would worry about those tomorrow. Right now was too pleasant to disturb with such thoughts.

OoOoO

Team Nine assembled early the next day. Anko was smiling like the proverbial cat that got the canary. Naruto shuddered. Whatever Anko had in store, it was bound to be unpleasant. "I got us another C-rank mission," she began without preamble.

"What?" Tenten exclaimed. "We just got back from a mission the other day! Aren't we supposed to have at least a week between C-ranks during peacetime?"

"Mmmm, yeah, but I get bored without something to do."

"You could, oh, I don't know, train us or something."

"Yeah, I could, but missions are more fun. And besides, we wont be leaving the village."

Naruto scrunched his face up in confusion. "What kind of C-rank is that then?"

"That would be telling." The four of them stood there, the genin, getting slightly uncomfortable, Anko still with that unsettling grin.

"Anko, why don't you show us our assignment?" In the early morning quiet Hinata's soft tone was loud as gunfire.

"Thought you would never ask! LET'S GO!" Anko punctuated that remark by flinging her arm towards the Hokage Rock. Hinata, Naruto and Tenten followed silently as Anko hummed a merry little tune to herself.

Five minutes later the group entered the gates for the Konoha Shinobi Academy. "Uh, Mom, what are we doing here?"

"Our mission."

"Yeah, I got that, but what does our mission have us doing here."

"Oh, this and that. You know." Naruto sighed once again and followed his mother into the building. She led her students down several halls and stopped before a door. "Here is our assignment," she remarked, opening the door with one hand and standing to the side, giving an unobstructed view of the room full of students within.

"You're shitting," Naruto deadpanned.

"Nope," she responded cheerfully.

Tenten strode in past the two to stand before the instructor's desk, quickly followed by everyone else. Before they had a chance to introduce themselves a very familiar voice piped up from the back of the room. "Hey Boss, what are you doing here? Where is Iruka-sensei?"

"Pipe down back there," Anko growled. "My name is Mitarashi Anko, and these three maggots are Uzumaki Naruto, Higurashi Tenten, and Hyuuga Hinata. We will be filling in for Iruka for the next couple of days."

"What happened to Iruka-sensei?" another one of the members of the Konohamaru Corps spoke up. The pigtailed brunette had at least raised her hand, if not waited for permission before speaking.

"That is not your concern. Now, for the time being, you will refer to me as Anko-sensei. Now, Iruka left some lesson plans behind, but it is mostly bookwork and that is boring. So we're going to go outside today. FOLLOW ME!" Anko waved her arm in a large circular motion and started to head towards the door when she noticed that no one was following her. "Well, what are you waiting for, GET GOING!" she roared, causing the entire room to jump. One by one the student filed past an annoyed Anko and into the yard. She immediately had Naruto use the Shadow Clone Technique to create one of himself for each student.

"What we are going to be working on is taijutsu and tactical thinking. One of the most important abilities for a ninja is the ability to think during a fight. In my opinion, this skill is severely under stressed here in the Academy, and I am going to be working to rectify that. Now, I know you are taught to try to use the environment. Tell me, what are some ways you could think of to use this clearing to your advantage in a fight?"

"Well," one girl said, putting a finger to her chin, "you could use the Headhunter Technique to capture your opponent."

"That is a good idea, but that is not exactly what I was talking about. You can use the Headhunter Technique on any solid surface. I am asking what about the environment itself could you use to help you." She waited a few seconds to see if anyone would answer and sighed when no one did. "As I thought. Well," she said looking around briefly, "I could pretend to get my feet knocked out from underneath me, and when I am on my back grab a fistful of dirt. When my opponent leans down to kill me, I would throw the dirt in his face, blinding him. Or I could use a wind jutsu to stir up all this loose dirt and dust, forcing my enemy to lose track of me, unless he has some sort of special sensory ability. But assuming he doesn't, I could then create a clone, run away, or attack, depending on the situation.

"Now, what I want each of you to do is pick a Naruto clone and spar. No jutsus, just hand-to-hand combat. The only way to win your spar is to find a way to use the environment to your advantage." The crowd of children immediately leaped up and snatched a Naruto to play with. Anko smirked. This was going to be fun. She stalked among the rows of students battling Naruto's barking out "encouragement." By the end of the day, Iruka's class, she had put the fear of God in the impressionable youngsters, many redoubling their efforts to defeat their Naruto lest they give Anko a reason to swoop down on them.

Tenten and Hinata stood off to one side, Hinata with her Byakugan active, keeping a keen eye on the Narutos, directing Tenten to dispel them when they got a little too carried away. It was good endurance training for Hinata and provided endless amusement to Tenten, trying to find ever more creative ways to "kill" her boyfriend. She just smiled all the wider when the real thing scowled at her. Absently she wondered if Anko was rubbing off on her.

OoOoO

Three days later, Hinata was in her room, having told the branch member outside her door that she was not to be disturbed.

Going to her desk, she withdrew the family finance ledger. When her mother had died years ago, she had been too young to take up her responsibilities as mistress of the house at the time, but now maintaining the ledger was one of her primary responsibilities. She was checking the numbers for some repairs that were being performed on one of the buildings belonging to the branch house when she was interrupted.

"I thought I said that I was not to be disturbed Io-san," she said to the female branch member that was stationed outside the door.

"Apologies Hinata-sama, but your father requests your presence in his study."

Hinata sighed. He probably wanted to lecture her about her status as a Hyuuga, how they weren't supposed to be weak, or something. Or about her new sword and the accompanying power. She prayed that it was the former rather than the latter. Still, she was surprised that her father had waited half a week to summon her. Usually she was directed to her father's study the instant she got in from a mission. Hinata had been applying every ninja trick she knew to avoid the head of the First Clan that she knew but it was only a matter of time. It was obvious that Naruto did not wish for their abilities to spread beyond Team Nine, but she didn't know how long she would be able to resist her father's inevitable wish for others to learn to access spirit power. She marked the column she was on and put the ledger away.

Hinata slowly opened the door and closed it behind her, allowing the branch member to escort her to the study. When she entered, she knelt in front of her father's desk, looking at the ground.

"You requested my presence father?"

"Yes I did Hinata-chan. Go change into something more formal, and return to me."

"What for Father?"

Hiashi looked at her directly in the eye and replied with a hint of smugness, "to meet your husband."

Hinata nearly went to her knees in surprise. "M-m-my hu-hu-hu-husband?"

"Correct. I am entering into negotiations with the young man this afternoon for your hand in marriage."

"Fa-father, what do y-you mean?"

"I mean that I am going to take you to meet your potential fiance. Now, return to me when you have changed your attire. You do not need to worry about impressing him, but certain forms must be followed. Now, do as I say."

"Ye-yes Father." Hinata quickly folded her hands and bowed low, before scurrying out the door. Apparently Hiashi had informed the Branch Hyuuga of what was going on before he had told her, or they had all been listening at the door because she was quickly escorted back to her room and dressed.

Clad in a multilayered kimono, Hinata found her father waiting for her in his study. Hiashi had also changed his outfit, from the loose shirt and pants into his own, slightly less formal kimono. Hinata fell into step with Hiashi without a word, half a pace behind and to his right. The group, Hiashi and Hinata flanked by a half-dozen Branch Hyuuga, garnered quite a few stares, as it was uncommon to see both father and daughter out in the streets in such formal attire.

Hinata's face gradually became more and more nervous and confused as they continued to walk. The section of town they were heading for was not exactly bad, but by the same token, there were better places to live than where they were headed. After about twenty minutes of walking, Hiashi turned down a well-used road that could probably use some resurfacing. Heart increasing in tempo with each passing step, she could barely hear the chime of the doorbell over the sound of her pulse in her ears when a servant pressed the dingy tan button. When the door opened and she saw who answered it, it was all she could do to lock her knees and keep her eyes from rolling up into the back of her head.

Frowning at the large group standing on her stoop, Anko asked the obvious question. "While I am surprised to see you here Hiashi-sama, what is going on?"

"Mitarashi-san, if we could please step inside, I am more than willing to explain everything to your heart's content."

Still eying the procession with a wary gaze, nonetheless, Anko stepped to one side and opened the door to allow Hiashi and company entrance. Once everyone was had entered, Hiashi asked "Mitarashi-san, if you could please summon your son, I would appreciate it, as my visit here is directly related to him."

Anko nodded very slowly and after showing him and his retinue to the living room, she went out into the back yard to fetch Naruto.

"OI! NARUTO! GET OVER HERE!"

Pausing in the middle of the process of systematically reducing half a dozen training posts to mulch with his zanpakuto, Naruto picked the scabbard off the ground and sheathed his blade. Carrying the sword in one hand, he caught the shirt that Anko tossed him with the other. "Hey Mom, what do you want?"

"Hyuuga Hiashi is sitting in the living room with Hinata, requesting to speak with you."

Frowning as he slipped the blue muscle shirt on he asked, "know what he wants?"

"No, but given that he came with a fistful of servants, there is something afoot."

Naruto quickly mopped the sweat from his face and brow before he followed Anko into the house. When the pair entered the living room, Hiashi and Hinata were seated on the lovers couch, mirror images of perfect serenity. Or at least Hiashi was. Hinata was twitching enough to give a medical professional cause to worry.

Keeping his face carefully neutral, Naruto spoke. "While I am honored by your visit Hiashi-sama, may I ask what it is that you came to see me for?"

"Please have a seat Naruto-san. This will be more comfortable without you standing the entire time." Nodding cautiously, Naruto did as Hiashi asked and lowered himself to the high backed chair across the coffee table from the couch that Hinata and Hiashi occupied. Once Naruto was comfortable, Hiashi spoke again. "Naruto-san, I have been lead to believe that you are cognizant of your biological parents identities. May I assume that this is true?" Wary, Naruto nodded. "Shortly before your father used you to seal the Kyuubi no Kitsune away from the world of the living, he made a single request of me. We were not friends, but to say that your father was a man that I respected immensely is a poor way to describe how I felt to him. He asked that when you came of age, or when I deemed it appropriate, I was to offer you the full protection of my clan., and to that effect, I am here to offer you my daughter's hand in marriage."

Naruto blinked a few times, processing Hiashi's speech. "Uh, hold on a moment please. Um. A couple of questions. One, what prompted you to suddenly decide to fulfill your promise to my father just now?"

"My decision to honor my promise to your father was prompted by several Council meetings held over the last four days, convened in large part as a response to your outburst during your debriefing five days ago. Simply put, the Council has become extremely nervous and is highly concerned about the risk of you going renegade. As you said, you have little reason to love the Council, and that has prompted them to act. However, I have been able to convince the Council that I have the means to rein you in and gain a handle on you."

"By having me marry Hinata."

"Precisely."

"And you expect me to agree to this?"

"Yes."

That caught Naruto a little off guard. "Why? Why would I agree to this, when your express motive is to get a hold on me? On second thought, why are you even explaining this to me?"

"Because Naruto-san, this is the best way for me to protect you. Before you interrupt, let me explain. First off, let me start by telling you that you cannot understand how much the people who survived the Kyuubi's incursion hate and fear it. We threw everything we had at the thing, and it annihilated every single person to stand against it, save one. It shrugged every seal, every construct, every weapon thrown at it aside. There were ninja who were driven irrevocably insane by its aura. There is an entire ward filled with the men and women who lost their minds to it. Oftentimes, there was not a finger left of those who stood against the Kyuubi. The might of the Kyuubi was insurmountable. It took the greatest shinobi Konoha ever produced to draw even with it. The Yondaime was more than our leader, he was our father. With him leading us, there was nothing we could not accomplish. We had never been stronger. Many loved him more than their own blood, and a few even worshiped him as a divinity. Even the Sandaime, who was nicknamed the God of Shinobi wasn't greater. So when the Yondaime finally managed to seal the demon away, it was seen by many as an act of the gods. Believe me when I say that Konoha had never been closer to total annihilation than the day that the Yondaime died. So when I say that the Council will do anything to prevent the Kyuubi being unleashed once more, know that I am speaking the truth." Hiashi halted there and shook his head. "Forgive me, but I seem to have fallen off topic."

"No, I understand," Naruto replied weakly. Naruto had always known that his father was one of Konoha's most celebrated son, but to hear the terms of his death in such a way put it in a new light. "You say that you promised my father that you would offer me the protection of the Hyuugas, if that is so, then why did you vote to have me executed as an infant?"

Hiashi did not respond for several seconds and Naruto was about to voice his question again when Hiashi raised his gaze. "It is true that I voted to have you executed right after your father died. I have no decent excuse for my actions that day. The entire village was in a state of shock, and I think that many people, including those on the Council would say that they were not in full control of their emotions that day. What I did, I did in the sincere belief that I was acting in the best interests of the village. It wasn't long before I began regretting my decision, and thanking the Hokage for acting as he did.

"While it was never obvious, I have been helping you and you adoptive mother since the day that she took you in. Did you never wonder how smoothly that the adoption went through? How you were able to find a house for sale on such short notice? Excepting your tenth birthday, neither you nor your mother have ever suffered an attack upon your persons? It may not have always been obvious, but I have been watching out for you for a long time."

"If you have been watching over us ever since I was born, how was it that I got mugged in the first place?"

"A grievous oversight, I will admit, and one that was corrected as soon as I had found out about it."

"And what about trying to get my techniques classified as general knowledge techniques?"

"Well, that was poor planning on my part. I have told you that the Council has become somewhat nervous about your growing power, and have made a few comparisons between yourself and Orochimaru and Itachi. When it came time to have actually incorporated your techniques into the general pool, I would have fixed it so that the report would have said that there was no feasible way for anyone to learn your techniques. Having tried to spread those techniques to other, but failed due to factors outside your control, the Council would have had not choice but to classify them as secret techniques. But I never took into account that you would challenge me in front of the full Council as you did."

Eying Hiashi in a way that clearly stated that he was taking what he had said with a grain of salt or two, Naruto finally nodded.

"Well, what do you think that the Council would try to do if I were to refuse your offer then?"

"Imprisonment most likely. Nobody, not even Jiraiya-sama fully understands how your seal works, so I doubt that they would try to assassinate or execute you, but that leaves plenty of other less-than-pleasant options. But do not let the Council's potential actions be the only factor in your decision. I will not deny that if you were to marry Hinata-chan, I, and by extension the Clan, would gain considerable political muscle and reputation. By the same token, there are many ways I could use my increased influence to help you. You say that your dream is to become Hokage? Well, I can practically guarantee that you have the necessary knowledge and strength to qualify."

"You say that, but I am well on my way to doing that on my own. The Hokage has been grooming me for the position for years now, and as you have already said, I hold the most powerful monster to ever threaten Konoha."

"While that is certainly true, in order to become Hokage, your appointment has to be ratified by a vote of the Jounin. Do you think that you can do that without at least one Council member on your side?"

"Who the hell do you think I am? I am Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha's Number 1 Most Surprising Ninja."

"Still, do you think that it would be best to start gaining support as early as possible?"

"You are not the only Council member I know."

"But I am the most influential."

"Everything else aside, I am already dating Tenten. What am I supposed to tell her? That I am dumping her so that I can be a Hyuuga?"

"What you do and who you see privately is none of my concern, provided that such actions do not negatively impact the reputation and standing of the Hyuuga." That caused Naruto to quirk an eyebrow. If he was reading Hiashi's subtext right, and he was sure he was, Hiashi had just given him permission to cheat on Hinata, as long as no one else found out about it. "I am coming to you, Naruto-san and as such, I am willing to make certain accommodations." Naruto pondered that for a few seconds.

"Well, in any case, I have to think it over. Has the Council given you a deadline?"

"Officially, no. But I will have to give them a decision within the next day or two."

"I will give you my decision tomorrow then."

Nodding in acquiescence, Hiashi rose and gave a brief nod to both Naruto and Anko before he made a sharp hand gesture and departed, servants heeling him closely. Anko escorted Hiashi and Company to the door, Anko returned to the living room and found Naruto staring out one of the windows with his hand clenched behind his back. "Any idea what you are going to do?"

"No, but this is something that I need to speak with Tenten with, I believe. I am going out for a while. I might not be back in time for dinner." Anko wasn't given the chance to respond before he was out the window and bounding across the rooftops.

Naruto made it to Tenten's home in about fifteen minutes. He pushed the door to the store open, the bell mounted above it jingling to announce his entrance. Luckily Tenten's father was not present, as he would have probably turned him away out of hand. Chichi however didn't mind leading him upstairs to Tenten's room, knocking on her door and inform Tenten that he was there to see her. Once Chichi had departed, with a reminder for Tenten to leave her door open, he folded his hands behind his back and stared at a wall. Tenten, who had moved to embrace him, halted, slightly put off by his seriousness.

"I just came from a meeting with Hyuuga Hiashi at my home." That caused Tenten to do a double take. One, Hiashi had met with Naruto at all was odd in and of itself, as the Hyuugas considered Naruto to be persona non grata in the first place. Second, if Naruto had worded it correctly, Hiashi had come to him, rather than the other way around.

"What did he want?"

"Essentially, to form an alliance between the Hyuugas and myself. In the form of marrying Hinata." Tenten blinked, not quite sure what to think of that. "And I am thinking about accepting." Now that was something that Tenten knew what to think of.

"I am sorry but I think I just heard you say that you are thinking of accepting a political marriage into the Hyuuga clan."

Naruto finally turned to face Tenten and unclench his hand from behind his back, instead sticking them in his pockets. His face was completely blank, wiped of any kind of emotion. "Yes you did, but before you say anything else, please let me reason it out for you." Tenten stepped back and sat down on her bed, hands gripping the edges. Naruto exhaled slightly and turned to look out the window.

"I have a couple of reasons for doing this. But I will say one thing off the bat, I will only do this with your consent. If you do not want me to do this, just say so, and that will be the end of it. Okay?" Tenten nodded slowly. "Well, the first reason that comes to mind for accepting Hiashi's offer is for protection. The Hyuuga are hugely influential in the right circles. The fact that you and I are a couple is not widely known, but it is only a matter of time before it becomes so. When it does, I know that there will be certain individuals that will try, I said try," he repeated at Tenten's sharp look, "to make your life more difficult. You are well aware that my mother and I are despised by a significant portion of the civilian population, and to a lesser degree, among the shinobi as well. Eventually this will affect you, but with the Hyuuga standing behind me, that doesn't have to be so." Here he paused and waited for Tenten's slow nod before continuing.

"Second, and somewhat more selfishly, it will give me access to some of the best sealing experts in Konoha. Hiashi's main stated reason for coming to me today was that the Council is scared of me. They do not like the level of independence that I have shown, and want to rein me in. Something happened to me in the Council chambers that day, I am not exactly sure what, and that scares me. You are well aware of the fact that the Kyuubi is sealed in me, and I think it was exerting some kind of emotional influence on me that day. Sure, I was a little peeved at them for trying to steal my secrets, but this was something else. It didn't feel like how the Kyuubi chakra normally does, but the effect were noticeably similar. Specifically how I went from zero to murderous in about two seconds. Had they said the wrong thing, I am not sure that I wouldn't have attacked them on the spot. I am not sure how it happened, because everything that I have read about the seals and the styles that mine is based on, my seal should prevent any sort of... emotional intermingling aside from when I channel its chakra."

"If this is true, couldn't you just go to the Hokage with this and have him tell Hiashi to let his sealing experts have a look-see at you?"

"I could, but that would place me in Hiashi's debt, and I really do not want to owe that man anything. This way, he is simply making sure that his subordinates are operating at peak efficiency."

"I suppose that is a good point, but it seems a little excessive just to avoid owing him."

"And if that was it, I would agree with you. But I have several more reasons, if you will hear them."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Alright. Well my third reason is mostly selfish. Hiashi has clout. If I wanted something, I have little doubt that he could get me it. Hell, he could possibly get the Hokage to have Jiraiya teach me sealing. Access to private libraries, experts in various fields of the ninja arts. Hell, access to the Hyuuga treasury is a reason in its own. I know that you have always wanted to go to Ichibana's. With an allowance as a Hyuuga, I could take you there any time you wanted to go. I could buy you jewelry, clothes, anything you wanted. Plus I could help my mom out, financially. She is a special jounin, but even so, sometimes she has a hard time paying the mortgage on the house, the utilities, food, equipment and everything else.

"Lastly, is Hiashi himself. Long-term, I can think of few men that I would want to oppose me less than him. Even if the Hokage does name me his successor and the Daimyo confirms me, I still have to pass a two-thirds majority vote of the Jounin. Seeing as the Hyuuga is the largest clan, Hiashi has probably has enough jounin under his command to prevent that, and that is only those in the Clan. Making an enemy of him now could seriously damage my chances. He has professed to have nothing but benevolent intentions towards me and my mother so far, but I do not trust him. He could be lying through his teeth about all of this in an attempt to curry favor with me. Should I refuse him outright, I think that it is entirely possible that he could drop this whole act. This clever thing about his claims are that they are totally unverifiable. Plus his kind have long memories."

"And to accomplish all of this, you would have to marry Hinata." At some point Tenten had stood up, and now she was looking at him with an odd expression on her face, with her arms crossed under her breasts.

"Yeah. If you are okay with this, she is going to be the next person I speak to."

"Whom you will be marrying."

Opening his mouth to say yes, a thought hit him suddenly. "Oh. I see. Tenten-chan, I love you. You and only you. You were the first to see me as someone worth loving. I have had other people acknowledge me as a person, but you are the first to have loved me for me. Before you, the only person I really had was my mother, and you know how she is. I cannot express what you mean to me, and no one, not Hiashi, Hinata or the Hokage himself will _ever _change that. You are first in my heart, and nobody will usurp that position. Trust me when I say that you are my most precious person and nothing anyone else says can change that."

Taking two steps forward, he wrapped his arms around Tenten. After a pair of seconds, she slumped into him and returned the hug. "What are you going to tell Hiashi? And Hinata?"

"Not too sure. But I have until tomorrow to think of something." Naruto loosened his embrace enough to pull back and cup Tenten's face with his hands. Moving in slowly, he planted a slow kiss on her lips. "I love you Tenten. Now and forever. If you doubt everything else about me, never doubt that."

"Sorry."

"It is okay. If our positions were reversed, I am not sure that I would be handling this as well as you are."

"Hm. I guess that you are lucky that I am such an open-minded girl then."

"I know. I have got to be the luckiest guy." Tenten just rolled her eyes.

OoOoO

**The next day**

Hiashi had turned up the next day, a little after noon, clad in nearly identical attire, again escorted by half a dozen Branch House Hyuuga. As soon as they had arrived, Naruto had asked to have a few words with Hinata in private. Both teens wet out to the covered patio in the back yard. Given how badly Hinata was blushing and how she was tapping her fingertips together, a nervous tic that he had not seen in quite a while let him know that Hinata was feeling almost as awkward about this whole thing as he was. He had thought about his speech for most of the night before he had come up with a satisfactory version.

"Hinata-chan, I know this has to be as weird for you as it is for me, so I am just going to play it straight. I am thinking of accepting your father's offer. But I will only do it with your consent and full knowledge of what it entails. I spoke with Tenten-chan last night, at length, and I want to give you the same chance that she had to refuse this whole thing. If you want, I will explain my reasoning behind this whole affair, or whatever you wish. Whatever your wishes are, just tell me, and I swear I will abide by them.

"Ah, Naruto-kun..."

"Yes?" he asked gently, giving her the chance to collect her thoughts and say what she wanted to say.

Taking a bracing breath, she released it slowly before continuing. "Naruto-kun, I understand that you wish to go through with this for your own reasons. I don't care what they are. The only thing that matters to me is that you want this. Maybe not for the reasons that I would wish, but I can accept that. The truth is that I have... that I have loved you for a long time, but always from a distance because I was never brave enough to walk up to you and say anything. The only thing I have ever wanted was to be able to help you. Until we were assigned to the same team, I was weak, cowardly, useless. But since we graduated from the Academy, I have been trying to change myself.

"I understand and can accept that you love Tenten. I am willing to accept the likelihood that you will never care for me like how you care for her. But I am your teammate, and your friend, no matter what. So, if you say that you wish for me to do this for you, then I will, because I am your friend."

"Hinata-chan, you do not have to do this for me. I would not want you to do this just because I tell you to. I will only accept your father's offer if you know my reasons."

Smiling gently she replied, "I don't mind. As long as it is you that is asking me, this is no burden. Just letting me help you is enough for me."

Naruto gave her an odd look out of the corner of his eyes, but Hinata ignored it. She was being useful to Naruto. That was the only thing that mattered. "If you are sure."

Hinata nodded. "I am."

"Well, I suppose we should go break the news to your father then." Hinata nodded and folded her hands over her waist, shadowing Naruto back out into the living room. Hiashi and Anko both rose as the pair reentered the room.

"Have you come to a decision?" Hiashi asked.

"Yes I have. With Hinata's consent, I accept your offer, Hiashi-sama." Naruto ignored the astonished look Anko sent him, instead focusing completely on Hiashi.

Nodding seriously, paused a moment before he spoke. "Very well. I will send for you once the paperwork has been filed. It should only take two or three days for the paperwork to go through. I will send for you when it has been filed properly." He glanced back to Hinata and raised an eyebrow with an unvoiced question. Hinata shook her head and Hiashi nodded slightly. With a curt hand gesture, he gathered the servants and let himself out.

"Well, that was interesting to say the least," Anko said to no one in particular.

OoOoO

Tenten was lying on her bed, her hair down, hands behind her head, contemplating the discussion she and Naruto had last night. She may have given her consent to Naruto's plan, but she was still unsure about the whole enterprise. Rolling over onto her side, she sighed. Worrying about it now wouldn't help anything. She had given her approval, such as it was, and now there was nothing to do but ride the rest out. But no matter how she turned it around in her mind, she could help but focus on the fact that Naruto was going to marry Hinata. She may have given her tacit permission, but she didn't like it much.

Tenten sat up when a knock sounded on her door. "Who is it?" she asked.

"It's me dear," her mother's slightly muffled voice came through the wood. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Mom."

"Are you sure? You don't sound it." Tenten groaned. She swore that Chichi could give Ibiki a run for him money when it came to interrogation. Her mother evidently took her silence as permission to enter as she opened the door and sat down beside Tenten. "Is it boy trouble?"

Tenten eyed her mother warily. "What makes you think that it is boy trouble?"

Chichi smirked slightly. "Honey, kunoichi or not, at your age, anything that would make you sigh that much has to be related to a boy. Plus it wasn't until Naruto-kun came to visit you last night that you started getting so antsy."

Tenten twined her fingers behind her head and fell back on her bed. "What did Naruto-san do?"

"He didn't do anything."

"Really? I find that surprising."

"He didn't." Tenten sat back up and unsheathed Screaming Fang, cutting the air absently, barely noticing when the black kimono settled around her shoulders. "You know how my team and I awoke our new powers on our last mission?"

Chichi nodded. It had been her worst fear come to life to hear how her daughter had actually died and then been resurrected by her sword before chasing off the mysterious ninja. "Well, we were debriefed by the Hokage himself, and then had to speak to the Shinobi Council about our new powers. Naruto got angry and basically told the Council to stuff it. They didn't like that and had a meeting the other day. Apparently, the think that he is dangerously disloyal to Konoha, and in order to make sure that he doesn't go missing-nin on us, a marriage has been arranged for him."

Chichi winced. "And it isn't to you."

"It's to Hinata."

"That…" she trailed off, unable to properly voice her sentiments.

"It's wrong, that is what it is," Tenten suddenly snarled, leaping to her feet, blade still clutched in her grip. " That son-of-a-bitch of a Hyuuga. He sees an opportunity to increase his own power and he jumps on it. Naruto explained his reasons for going through with this, and I understand them, but... I mean, why do they have to do this to us? To Naruto? To Hinata? I mean, I know that Hinata likes him, but that still… Ugh." Chichi looked on silently as her daughter paced, violently swinging the sword in her hand, snarling incoherently.

"Well, when it comes to newfound bloodlines, the Council-" She cut herself off abruptly as Tenten focused her steely gaze on her, bringing sharp steel to bear.

]"Don't finish that sentence Mother. Don't you dare try to justify their decision. Naruto could just as easily marry me, but power hungry bastard of a Hyuuga thinks that they need even more power that Naruto and his ability would bring."

Tenten flopped back a moment later, fury worn out for the moment, rage giving way to tears. "Hush, Tenten-chan. I am sure that the Hokage is doing everything in his power to help you and your teammates out of this. You just have to believe in him."

A minute later, Tenten mastered herself and pulled out of Chichi's embrace, wiping her eyes on her sleeves. "Thanks Mom."

"It's what I'm here for dear."

A cough was heard from the direction of Tenten's open door. "Tenten-chan, one of your teammates is here to see you."

"Which one Dad?"

"Hinata-san." Tenten frowned for a moment.

"Bring her up here please." Kouseki nodded and walked back down the hall.

"Would you like me to stay?"

Tenten shook her head. "No, whatever she wants to talk about, it is something that we have to work out in private."

Chichi nodded uncertainly. "If you say so dear." Tenten nodded and motioned for her to close the door as Hinata entered. Hinata stood silently in front of Tenten, hands folded, as the elder Higurashi woman left.

"Hinata-san" Tenten greeted coolly.

"Hello Tenten-san." Tenten gave the grey-eyed girl an odd look at the polite address, but said nothing. If she wanted to be formal, then so be it.

"What is it that you want Hinata?" the bun-haired girl asked, slightly sharper than she had intended.

"I-I come with a pro-proposal for y-you." Hinata took a deep, calming breath before continuing. "I know that everything about this has to be unpleasant to you, and I do not wish for me or my family to make this any harder on you than it has to be. Therefore, I propose that we agree to share Naruto-kun."

Tenten stared at Hinata without saying anything. "Th-that is to say that we try to make the best of an unpleasant situation. I hold no illusions as to Naruto's reasoning. You are my best friend, and I do not wish my father's political machinations to come between us."

Tenten continued to stare at the increasingly fidgety Hinata, arms crossed under her breasts. After a moment, she relented and gestured to Hinata to sit in the chair at her desk. Hinata quickly pulled the chair out and turned it to face her teammate.

"I assume Naruto gave you his reasons for doing this?"

Hinata shook her head. "The only thing that matters to me is that he wants me to accept. I know he would never ask me to agree to my father's plan without consulting you first, so..."

"I... see." On second thought, she really wasn't too surprised. Hinata would do just about anything that Naruto asked of her, and marrying him was hardly the most onerous of actions. "You really do not have a problem with Naruto and I staying together?"

"I know that you are the one he truly loves. And although I do love him, demanding that he stop going out with you because of me would me denying him happiness, and I could never do that."

Tenten took a second to absorb that and had to struggle with the magnanimity of Hinata's decision. Abruptly Tenten lurched forward and seized Hinata in a hug.

"Thank you Hinata-chan," Tenten whispered in her ear. She pulled back, still holding the other girl by her shoulders. "I can't imagine how hard that had to be for you and I appreciate it." Tenten sat back and released Hinata, smiling, which Hinata returned.


	11. A Marriage and a Court Martial

**Chapter Eleven: A Marriage and a Court Martial**

Two days after the Hokage's announcement that Hinata and Naruto were to be married, a very disparate group were assembled in the office of the Hokage. There were six people. The Hokage was dour as usual, Hiashi was as gleeful as possible, Jiraiya was indifferent, Anko was irritated, Hinata was nervous, and Naruto, well, it was impossible to determine how Naruto felt. There was a paper on the Hokage's desk that awaited several signatures. It the reason that everyone had been assembled this bright and cheery morning. "Sign the marriage contract," Hiashi said. Hinata slowly took the pen and signed her name to the paper and then offered the pen to Naruto.

He took the pen from Hinata's fingers and lowered it to the paper. He finished signing his name and sighed. He took the smaller of the two golden rings resting on a small pillow beside the contract and took Hinata's hand in his. He put her ring on her finger, keeping eye contact all the while. Then Hinata did the same. There. It was done. He was officially a Hyuuga now. He sighed at his new father-in-law when he broke out in a _very _un-Hyuuga grin.

"Very good. I will arrange to have your possessions moved into the complex later today."

"Hold the fuck up. What are you talking about?" Anko had uncrossed her arms and pushed off the wall that she was leaning up against.

Hiashi frowned. "Your son is a Hyuuga now. He shall be removed from your residence to somewhere more appropriate to his new station."

"Listen you little-"

"Anko!" the Hokage barked sharply, cutting her off before she could dig herself into more trouble than she could deal with.

Anko snarled incomprehensibly as she whirled on her heel and stalked out. "Well, if that is all..."

"With your permission, I shall take my leave." Hiashi's voice was perfectly level, yet Sarutobi could hear the smug undertones to his words. Hiruzen gestured airily towards the door and nodded towards it. Hiashi nodded back and swept out of the room, quickly followed by the newlyweds, leaving Hiruzen alone with Jiraiya. He doubted that there was going to be a honeymoon, or much celebration going on tonight.

"Well," the Sandaime Hokage said as he leaned back in his chair, "that could have gone better."

"For once, old man, I completely agree."

OoOoO

Anko was leaning against the wall opposite the entrance to the Hokage's office when Naruto led Hinata out. It took Naruto a moment to notice that Tenten was there as well. Glancing down at his beringed hand, he self-consciously covered the golden band up with the other and averted his gaze. Tenten approached him and took his hands in hers. "It's alright Naruto-kun. I knew that this was going to happen, and have accepted it." This was whispered at a volume so that only the pair of them would hear her words. Tenten dearly wished to kiss him, but refrained. For the time being, she and Naruto were going to keep their relationship on the down-low, at least until Naruto's new position was a bit more secure and not to antagonize Hiashi unduly. Hinata, Naruto noted out of the corner of his eye had ducked her head and had also covered her marriage band up.

Anko had never approved of this whole venture and let Naruto know it. She wasn't particularly fond of the Hyuuga in the first place, and was even less fond of Naruto's reasons for joining them. "Well, you all have the day off. You two," she said pointing at Naruto and Hinata, "need to get him," pointing at Naruto, "settled into your," back to Hinata, "home. Meanwhile," now pointing at Tenten, "you and I are going to get so drunk that we will piss alcohol." Tenten looked out a window, noting that it probably was not much past ten.

"You know, that sounds like an idea worthy of some sort of medal." Naruto and Hinata looked on as Anko and Tenten hooked arms and proceeded to the nearest bar, God help the barkeep if his tried to turn that pair away.

"There is no way that is going to end well."

"That is the understatement of the century." The silence stretched between the two, neither one able to think of something to say.

"So, um, wanna come help me move out?"

"Sure, Naruto-kun." Naruto led Hinata out of the Hokage's Tower to his home. Naruto stopped dead after the third time that he had to pull Hinata up beside him after she would fall back to walk behind him, hands folded and head ducked submissively.

"Okay, we are going to have to lay down some ground rules here. We just got married... God that sounds weird... anyways, we just got married, but that does not have to mean that everything has to be weird between us. I would like to stay friends with you if I could Hinata, but I can't do that if you are constantly walking in my shadow. Just... act normal. Okay?"

"I-i will try Naruto-kun."

"Great!" Naruto exclaimed. A few minutes later found them staring at Anko house, which had been overrun with Hyuuga branch house members. With neat precision and efficiency, Naruto watched as half a dozen Hyuugas quickly package his room up and roof hop their way to his new living quarters. Naruto picked up his ninja tools and followed Hinata out.

They returned to ground level as they approached the main gates of the Hyuuga complex. He stopped as the two guards opened the gate to admit them, bowing low and saying, "Welcome back, Hinata-sama. Welcome home, Naruto-sama." That froze him in his tracks, only to be tugged forward.

"Okay, that was the single weirdest experience in my life, being called Naruto-sama by Hyuugas of all people."

"Better get used to it Naruto-kun. You are a member of the main house of the First Clan. You are an important person. And husband to the heiress to the Hyuugas. The only people who outrank you now, socially, are my father, the Sannin and the Hokage."

"Make that double weird. This is going to take some getting used to."

"I am sure that you will adjust fine."

"I wish I was as sure of that as you are."

Hinata led the way past the courtyard and into the house proper. They took off their sandals to see a branch member waiting for them. "Hinata-sama, Naruto-sama, if you would follow me?"

Waiting for them to nod the man made a small bow and turned to lead them away. "Your possessions have been moved to your new room Hinata-sama." Hinata was feeling acutely nervous. She was Naruto's wife, but she did not feel it. She hoped that she would not have to share a bed with him immediately. She was sure that she would be unable to sleep if that was the case. She was instantly ashamed of her thoughts. Naruto was her husband, whether it felt like they were married or not. She should be eagerly awaiting his bed, not secretly dreading it.

Regardless, she let out a small sigh of relief when the branch house member stopped at an unoccupied two bedroom suite. The sitting room was about average size, thirty feet from front to back long and forty feet form left to right. There were several overstuffed armchairs and coffee tables between them, all circling a large rug. On the opposite wall were two widely spaced doors. The one to the left was Naruto's, the handful of boxes containing his meager possessions in the process of being unpacked. There was a very thick futon in the middle of the back wall and a small and sturdy cabinet next to it. Upon closer inspection, he saw that there was a kunai-sized slot on the side the futon was on. Inside were two shelves, made to hold kunai on the top, and shuriken on the bottom.

On the other side of the futon was a medium wardrobe, all his clothes neatly folded or hung as appropriate. The branch Hyuugas soon finished unpacking and with a "by your leave, Naruto-sama," departed. Naruto followed them out and entered Hinata's room.

"Hey Hinata-chan," he greeted. The woman he was addressing was being assisted by another Hyuuga servant in moving her far more numerous belongings in. To her embarrassment, Hinata squeaked and whirled to face the voice, holding and article of clothing to her ample bosom.

Naruto grinned at the rosy red coloring her cheeks and the very thin white nightie, that judging by the way that it draped itself over her front, might or might not cover her naughty bits. When Hinata realized what she was holding to her chest, as if testing it on for size, she squeaked again, stuffing it behind her back, blush expanding twofold.

"Naru... I wasn't... that is... it's not..." As she realized that she was stuttering, she clamped her mouth shut and took several deep calming breaths. When she opened her eyes again, she had regained a measure of control over her flaming features. "This isn't what it looks like Naruto-kun."

Still grinning, she shook his head. "I don't know that. And you look so cute when you are embarrassed." Of course, that comment only set her to increasing her blush and stammering again.

"Stop that! Hinata is a good girl!" That remark was punctuated by a sharp smack to the back of his head.

Sakura stepped past Naruto to greet Hinata. "Good morning Sakura-san, Ino-san."

Naruto turned around to look at the older blond."Hey there Ino-san. What are you doing here?"

"Sakura wanted to see Hinata. She dragged me along."

"What are you doing here anyways?" Sakura broke off her conversation to look over at Naruto.

"Hinata and I were just married. I just finished moving my stuff in."

Sakura stood there silently for a moment before she broke out laughing. "Seriously? Naruto, you need to work on your pranks. You seem to be slipping."

"I am serious. See, marriage band," he said, raising his left hand and pointing at the golden metal encircling his second to last finger."

That cut off Sakura's laughter pretty quick. She stared incredulously at his hand before looking to Hinata. Without saying a word, Hinata showed her ring to Sakura. Ino was leaning against a wall, well away from the burgeoning conflict, slightly amused.

"What the hell Naruto? You were dating Tenten-san just last week and now you are married to your other teammate?"

"It's complicated," Naruto answered shortly.

"That is no answer! How could you do this to poor Tenten?" Taking a breath she turned away from Naruto to start in on Hinata. "And here I thought that you were a nice girl. How could you steal Naruto away from Tenten like that?"

"Sakura-san!" Naruto barked, cutting her off, shocking her by his tone and form of address. "This is not something that concerns you. Hinata and I have good reasons for going into this, as well as Tenten. I do not appreciate you barging in here and accusing me of anything when you know nothing."

That shut Sakura up very quickly. "Oh, um, I, uh, I'm sorry."

Naruto sighed. "I know Sakura-chan. You weren't being deliberately hurtful. It's just that this is an awkward situation for everyone involved. Your barging in here and starting yelling at us isn't helpful."

"Well, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yes you did, but it is the thought that counts I suppose."

An awkward silence fell over the group, everyone shifting nervously, Hyuuga servants working in the background.

"So," Ino gushed, artificially cheery, "what are you doing moving all your belongings? You already live here."

"These are to be our rooms. Naruto-kun's room is the other one connected to the sitting room."

"You two really are married?"

"Yeah, I even had my surname legally changed to Hyuuga," Naruto grunted.

"If you don't mind my asking, how long have you two been married?"

Naruto glanced up at a clock on the wall. "About an hour," he said, somewhat sourly. "There was no ceremony, just a signing of a marriage contract and an exchanging of rings."

Both Sakura's and Ino's faces fell a bit at this. "But you _will _have a proper ceremony and reception later." Sakura's tone made it clear that it was not a question.

"Maybe."

"Listen Naruto, there is no 'maybe' about it. Every woman dreams of the day that they get married, and has her dream wedding planned out for years. There is zero possibility for you marrying Hinata and not having a proper ceremony."

Naruto leaned away from Sakura, who had leaned in close to him, shaking a finger under his nose. The berated blond tilted his head to peer past Sakura's angry features, pleading for Ino to rescue him. The other blond just shook her head and smirked, clearly saying _'you're on your own on this one buster,' _far too amused to help him out.

"Um... Sakura-san, I really don't need a wedding celebration. I am fine with the way the things are now. Sakura whirled, shock splayed across her features, missing the relief evident in Naruto's face and sagging shoulders.

"What do you mean you are fine with the way things are? You are forced into a political marriage, married by signing a contract, never got to cut your cake, and you say you are fine? This is completely unacceptable. You are the heiress of the Hyuuga Clan, your father should be begging to be able to hold your wedding ceremony. It is not every day that something like this happens, you got to enjoy it,-"

"Alright Sakura, I think they get the point." Ino had decided that Sakura was getting a little out of hand here.

Naruto never thought he would be more glad to see the face of a Hyuuga (other then Hinata of course,) than he did right at that moment as a servant opened the door and knelt before them.

"Hinata-sama, Naruto-sama, Hiashi-sama requests your presence in his office when you are done settling in."

Sakura and Ino both looked at Naruto with a measure of surprise, simultaneously uttering, "Naruto-sama?"

Hinata nodded at the servant and dismissed him while Naruto answered the other two girls. "Tell me about it. If you think it is weird for you, it applies doubly for me."

"Well, I think it is time for us to be going. Hinata needs to finish moving in and then they have to speak with her father. We can come again later," Ino told Sakura. Naruto could have kissed the girl.

"Alright. See you around you two," Sakura waved as the and Ino left the room.

"Holy crap. I could have sworn that was Ibiki under a genjutsu there for a minute." Hinata giggled. She had no idea who Ibiki was, but from Naruto's comparison, he had to be an intimidating individual. Naruto sat down on Hinata's futon as she went back to work helping load up her wardrobe. Hinata sure had a lot of clothes. The servants had been at it for twenty minutes and they were only two thirds done.

"Hey Hinata-chan, do you want a wedding ceremony?"

Hinata's hands slowed at folding some clothes and put them onto a shelf before turning to face her husband.

"Um... I know that you don't l-love me Naruto-kun, and possibly never will. I wouldn't want to put you in a position that would force you to say s-something that you did not truly f-feel. If the day ever came that you did l-love me, then I would be happy to have one. But until that day, I am s-satisfied without one."

Naruto didn't know what to say to that, so he said nothing. When he was silent for a few seconds, Hinata turned back to her clothes. Internally, Naruto was in turmoil. He didn't know a lot about women, but what little he did know told him that, like Sakura said, women liked to be primped, prettied, and at the center of attention. So, as a good husband, he should hold his wife's happiness above his own. Sure he could say three words to her if it would make her happy. He was sure that if approached in the proper way, that Hiashi wouldn't have too much trouble with paying for his daughter's wedding. The Hyuugas were loaded after all.

He shelved his musing to continue at a later date when the last of Hinata's clothes were hung up in the wardrobe. The servants bowed to them both and left the two alone. "Well, time to talk to your father I suppose."

Hinata nodded silently and wiped invisible dust from her knees, gesturing for Naruto to follow her. She had been thinking hard while finishing with her clothes. It was clear to her that Naruto was troubled about what Sakura had said about not having a wedding. But, as his wife, was it not her duty, her obligation, to put his needs and welfare, both physical and emotional above her own? He readily acknowledged the fact he did not love her as a spouse should, and that he was still held Tenten as closest to his heart. She would have to speak to him again about having a wedding ceremony, making sure that he did not feel obligated to give her one, even if he did not love her.

However, she was forced to shelve her thoughts as they approached the door that separated them from her father. Naruto offered her a weak smile as she looked at him for courage before opening the door. She knelt to open the door and allowed Naruto to enter before her, and then closed it behind her. There were two cushions for them to sit on across the desk from Hiashi.

"You summoned us Father." Hiashi ignored his daughter as he continued to write on a piece of paper. He signed his name with a flourish and handed it to a nearby branch Hyuuga, dismissing every one but his daughter and son-in-law.

Hiashi stared sternly at the pair for a handful of seconds before speaking. "There are several reasons I have called you here. Hinata, in light of your recent successful completion of both a C-rank mission and an A-rank mission, along with other considerations, I am going to publicly announce you as my heir."

"What of Hanabi Father?"

"She will be marked with the Caged Bird Seal and removed to the branch house."

"I see," she said softly, ducking her head.

"None of that now," Hiashi barked. "You are to lead the Hyuuga. We are the greatest clan in Konoha, and cannot afford to show weakness. If the clan head is weak, then the clan is weak. And the Hyuuga are not weak. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Father," she replied in the same tone.

"Is speaking to her in that tone really necessary?" Naruto was rather incensed at the derogatory tone of the words Hiashi had directed at his wife. He may have found Hiashi to be rather reasonable while they were working all of this out, but that did not mean he was going to be under his thumb. Hiashi had come to him after all. "Hinata-chan is many things, kind, gentle, and beautiful among them, but she is not weak. She is one of the strongest people I know. Just because she dislikes harming her family, despite the distaste and disgust you clearly show for her, does not mean she is weak. There are kinds of strength other than physical might."

"To judge her by your plebeian standards she may not seem that way. But as a Hyuuga, and future clan head, she is held to a higher standard than a non-Hyuuga is."

Naruto snorted and looked away. Hinata winced. This was not going well at all. The way things were heading, Naruto might end up with the Caged Bird Seal himself. She had to defuse this fast. Thinking quickly she spoke into the tense silence that had settled between her father and her husband.

"Father, I know that I am not a proper Hyuuga, so why are you designating me as your heir? You have been favoring Hanabi-chan over me for years."

"Hanabi-chan has been deemed unfit to serve as clan head for several reasons, none of which are your concern." Hiashi chose to ignore the scowl that Naruto had on his face, who was attempting to burn a hole through the rice paper walls with his eyes.

Hiashi's expression, which had relaxed slightly hardened again. "We shall see. For now, you may leave. Return to the compound for dinner to begin your first social lessons."

Naruto rose and offered a hand to help Hinata up, giving a tiny nod of respect to his father-in-law as he closed the sliding door.

Hiashi waited a few moments before seallessly activating the lowest level of his Byakugan, extending his sight only a dozen meters to make sure he was alone before removing a framed picture of is deceased wife holding a newborn Hinata. He traced her face with a finger, nostalgia briefly overcoming him. "Hitomi, what would you have done in my position? Would you have raised our daughter to be a proper Hyuuga? I fear I have made a grave mistake and only hope that I can recover in time." Sighing softly, he turned the picture over and lay it face down in the bottom most drawer of his desk. _'Please, Hitomi, tell me what I should do.'_

OoOoO

Naruto was feeling understandably tense and nervous that evening as he and Hinata returned to the Hyuuga mansion. The pair had spent most of the day doing nothing, just spending time with one another. They had eaten lunch at Ichiraku's, and were forced to endure Ayame's interrogation on why and how they were married. Unfortunately, it seemed that Ino, being the shameless gossip that she was, had wasted no time in telling every person that she came across of Naruto's new living arrangements. And of course, everyone knew where to find Naruto during lunch.

So, within relatively short order, the Ichiraku's Ramen Bar and been inundated with overly nosy former classmates and friends. Teuchi, being a businessman, also figured out a way to benefit from Naruto and Hinata's misery. He announced to the gathered crowd that anyone who wished to hang about to listen to Naruto's tale had to order something to eat. Naruto gave a sour eye to the old man, but he just grinned and spread his hands, as if to say, 'well, what else am I supposed to do?'

Naruto supposed that this was for the best, so he didn't have to answer the same questions dozens of times over, but it was annoying to be pestered over and over again about the details. Finally, he had enough and finished off his bowl of ramen in one huge mouthful, before sweeping Hinata from her feet bridal-style and fleeing the scene. That, of course did not help the rumors and speculation of a possible three-way that were already sprouting in some of the less, restrained, audience.

Naruto set a blushing Hinata down several miles away, and several hundred feet up.

**Flashback no Jutsu**

"This is beautiful Naruto-kun!"

"Yeah I like to come up here on the Hokage Rock to be alone and think sometimes."

"I can see why."

Naruto nodded and sat down, pulling Hinata between his spread legs, wrapping his arms around her stomach. "N-n-naruto-k-kun!"

"Sh. Be quiet Hinata-chan."

"But what about Tenten?"

"Hinata-chan, you are my wife now. I am sorry that I do not love you in the way that I should, and maybe, I eventually could. But I do not like seeing you in pain. I know that I cause you pain when you seem me and Tenten-chan together, so this is me trying to make up. You have been incredibly generous to give us your blessing, something that I had never expected to get. I like you Hinata-chan, and you are a precious person to me. So, please, let me hold you, and hopefully make you feel a little better."

Hinata didn't know what to say to that, so she said nothing, blinking back the tears that his kindness brought to her eyes. "Naruto-kun, did you mean what you said to my father?"

It was lucky for Naruto that he had been listening to Hinata's breathing, or else he might not have her her breathy question. "What part?"

"That I am beautiful."

"Of course I did Hinata-chan. You are one of the prettiest girls I know."

Hinata sat there silently, the unasked question tugging at her lips, _'am I more beautiful than Tenten?'_

**Flashback no Jutsu kai**

Naruto was so lost in his own internal world that he blinked in surprise and refocused his gaze when he felt Hinata's hand on his arm. He jerked to a halt and looked down. Hinata had stopped him two steps from running over a small girl.

"Good evening Hanabi-chan."

"Good evening Hinata-onee-san. Who is this?"

This is Naruto, my husband, your brother-in-law." Neither Hanabi nor Naruto said anything for several long seconds.

"He looks like an idiot," Hanabi concluded in a haughty tone.

Naruto immediately took offense, putting fists on hips, leaning down aggressively and glaring. "And who are you brat?"

"I am Hyuuga Hanabi, idiot. Next Hyuuga Clan Head."

Naruto flicked his gaze to Hinata before return to the shorter sister. "What was that?"

"What was what?"

"That look you gave my sister, idiot."

"Nothing that I need to tell you brat. You will find out soon enough."

"My name is Hanabi. Use it."

"Listen brat. I don't like how any of you treat my wife, so keep treating her as you have and your name will be face-in-mud. Also, if you don't use my name, I won't use yours." Naruto was going to say more, but he felt Hinata place her fingertips on his forearm lightly.

"Naruto-kun, please."

"Hmph. Lucky for you that Hinata-chan like you more than you like her." Hinata bowed slightly to Hanabi in apology before saying, "see you at dinner Hanabi-chan." Hanabi just snorted and looked away. Hinata saddened slightly as she hurried to catch up to Naruto.

OoOoO

Naruto had changed out of his dirty clothes that he had been wearing around town all day and into a fresh set for his first dinner with his father-in-law. Hiashi sat at the head of the table, legs folded under him, hands on knees, back ramrod straight, no expression on his face. Hinata was seated to his right, Hanabi on his left, and Naruto between Hiashi and Hinata.

He knew walking into this thing that it was not going to be a pleasant experience, no matter how well they seemed to gotten off that morning, and he was one hundred percent right. It wasn't as if he had absolutely no table manners, but it seemed that eating with the Hyuuga's was nothing at all like eating with anyone else.

For one, the food was of a significantly better quality than what he was used to, and two, it felt really weird to have people waiting on him hand and foot. As soon as he cleared a plate, it was immediately whisked away and replaced with a full one. Two, it was silent. Not just quiet, but silent. Other than the soft clatter of clinking dishes, you could have heard a senbon drop.

Now, Naruto was not accustomed to silence. He could understand times when he was supposed to be silent, like at a person's funeral, or when you were sneaking around on a mission, but other than that, he generally tried to avoid silence whenever possible. However, he could sense that this was a test of some sort, even if he could not understand what the purpose was. So he resigned himself to eating silently, trying to keep his discomfort as under control as possible.

To Hiashi, his level of discomfort might as well have been painted on a billboard for him to see. He as willing to admit that he seemed to have grasped that he was being tested, if he obviously did not understand why. Still, it said something about his self-control that he was able to keep his fidgeting as unobtrusive as he was. He had half expected the self-proclaimed Number One Knuckle Headed Ninja to be bouncing off the walls by now. Instead, he was on his best behavior, even if his manners were somewhat lacking. Then again, he was raised by Mitarashi Anko and she was not someone known for her spectacular manners, her minor obsession with tea ceremonies notwithstanding.

After an appropriate amount of time watching him squirm, Hiashi broke the silence. "How is the food, Naruto-kun?"

"Very good, Hiashi-sama." Hiashi nodded at his response. It was exactly the appropriate thing to say, so it was probably a result of Hinata's coaching. He didn't really mind if she had coached him. In the end, it was the results that counted, not how they were attained. Plus, expecting Hinata not to tell Naruto exactly what to do and what not to do was like asking Sakura to give up her love of Sasuke.

The rest of dinner passed in a somewhat more comfortably silence, Hiashi keeping a critical eye on Naruto. It was abundantly clear that he was following Hinata's lead, but again, it was the results that mattered, and right now, he was doing passably well. He could learn why something was done a particular way later, as long as he could show that he could imitate his betters when pressed.

Naruto for his part was showing spectacular restraint when it came to the food, in his opinion. Honestly speaking, this was the best meal that he had ever had in his life, ramen at Ichiraku's aside. Then again, it would have to be prepared by the gods themselves for a meal to ever overshadow Ichiraku's ramen to Naruto. Naruto managed to not grin widely when he saw the servants increasing astonishment when they kept bringing him food, and he kept putting it away. Towards the end of the meal, he caught Hiashi frowning at him when he saw Naruto continuing to eat at the same steady pantry clearing pace that he had begun the meal with. Internally, Naruto wondered if Hiashi was privately regretting marrying Hinata off now that he saw his appetite. Even he would admit that he ate an extraordinary amount of food, even for an Akamichi.

They were on the fourth dish of the meal when Hiashi finally started correcting Naruto's etiquette. Most of the stuff seemed to be pretty minor, but Hinata had impressed on him the importance of obeying Hiashi's every word during the meal. So he took equal portions of the food laid out, even if he would prefer to go through one dish at a time.

By the end of the meal, Hinata helped a very sleepy Naruto up and out of the dining room. Hinata blushed slightly as the looks the branch Hyuuga gave her when they saw her walking along with a staggering Naruto, one arm slung across her shoulders. She let him collapse onto his futon before proceeding to strip down to his undershirt and ramen boxers. The only way that she had managed was to keep reminding herself that she was performing her wifely duties, nothing more.

OoOoO

Back in the dining room Hiashi looked down at his younger daughter. "What do you think of your brother-in-law?"

"He's an idiot," she replied resolutely.

"Yes, I imagine that you would think so," he replied with a ghost of a smile on his lips.

"And what is that supposed to mean Father?"

"Just that there is more to that boy than one would think."

OoOoO

Naruto was awoken in a very alarming manner the next morning. He blearily opened one eye when he felt something jabbing into his stomach repeatedly. He blinked one before leaping out of bed and several paces away from an exceptionally old man. He and long white hair tied into a tail with lines of red paint extending from his eyes to under his jaw, making him appear that he was crying blood.

Naruto's eyes widened in horror when he realized that he was dressed in nothing but an undershirt and boxers. "Who the HELL are you old man!"

With a magnificent grin, the old man puffed out his chest and exclaimed in a booming voice. "My name is the Gallant Jiraiya-sama, super pervert extraordinaire! Also the author of the acclaimed series of adult novels, Icha Icha."

It was only then that Naruto noticed his mother and Hinata in the room. "MOM! Why would you let a pedophile into my room while I am sleeping? Who knows what he could have done to me?"

"Hey you, I will have you know that I only have an interest in women, not scrawny boys like yourself."

"Naruto, this is Jiraiya of the Sannin. He has come to assist in your training."

Naruto turned back to Jiraiya, hands on hips. "Are you sure Mom. He sure doesn't look like any Sannin that I have seen."

"And how many Sannin have you seen?"

"Enough to spot a phony when I see him."

Both Anko and Hinata wince slightly at that. "Naruto, I assure you that he is the real thing."

Still peering suspiciously at the geezer, he relented. "Well, I suppose if you say so." Nobody spoke for several seconds. "So, you guys want to get out so I can change? Except you Hinata. You can stay of you want," he said winking mischievously at her.

"I-i-i-i-i-i-i..."

Anko looked from Naruto to Hinata as the girl finally rolled her eyes up and fainted. "I think you broke her Naruto." Naruto grinned shamelessly.

"I'll make it up to her later."

"It had better be a hell of a gift brat." Anko dragged the comatose Hinata out with one arm and Jiraiya with the other. Naruto emerged from his room a minute later, blue shirt, black pants, bracers, greaves, geta and trench coat. "Where's Hinata?" Naruto asked.

"Recovering in her room," Anko replied.

"Alright. Well, I'm ready. Where are we going to go, pervert?"

"What did you call me brat?"

"Pervert, pervert."

"You should call me Jiraiya-sensei. All my other students did."

"You sure about that? From what I hear, my father called you ero-sennin."

"And who was your father?"

"Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage, also the one who sealed the Kyuubi no Kitsune into me.

"Who told you that?"

"The Hokage did, several years ago."

"I see. It is helpful that you already know about your burden. It saves me from a lot of awkward explanations. Well, lets get going. I need to see how much you know before I can start teaching you."

"Lead on Ero-sennin." Jiraiya just growled.

OoOoO

Uchiha Sasuke, the Uchiha Heir was in a position he was unaccustomed to occupying. That was the position of the accused of a crime. He was seated in the defendants chair, facing the Hokage, flanked by Danzo and Hyuuga Hiashi. Kakashi had retrieved him from the Uchiha compound a couple of hours ago to meet with a shinobi lawyer that he had hired to argue his case. The silver haired man was now sitting behind him, along with Sakura and Kiba. Across the aisle was a middle aged kunoichi, in a conservative jounin uniform, bottle blond hair tied up into a professional bun. Behind her in the gallery were the four members of Team Nine. There were a double handful of shinobi and civilians seated there also, all the civilians on his side, shinobi on both. A few names of note was his old Academy instructor, Umino Iruka, Nara Shikaku and Aburame Shibi, along with their wives and sons. Also in attendance was Team Nine, having been retrieved by messenger hawk not twenty minutes ago. Behind him was his other Academy teacher, Touji Mizuki, Haruno Izumi, and her husband Hoki, both prominent merchants.

Sasuke reluctantly rose as the Hokage called the room to order. "Uchiha Sasuke, you are called before this court the charges being: dereliction of duty in the second degree, insubordination in the second degree, cooperating with an enemy of the state and attempted technique theft in the first degree. How do you plead?"

"Chunin Ketane Kagane for the defense, and not guilty on all counts, Hokage-sama," Sasuke's lawyer said.

"So noted," the Hokage replied, making a mark on a pad in front of him. "Prosecution, call your first witness."

Glancing down at the pad in front of her, she said "Jounin Murasame Kiho, for the prosecution calls Genin Higurashi Tenten to the stand." In the gallery the slim brunette stood up and sat down in the chair to the right of the judges podium. She was sworn in and looked to the kunoichi lawyer facing her. "Genin Higurashi, please state your name, rank, and identification number for the record please."

"Higurashi Tenten, genin, number 012573."

"Thank you. Could you please tell me what you were doing in Wave Country with Genin Cell Seven approximately ten days ago?"

"My genin squad was assigned a C-rank mission to escort a courier to Kirigakure. On the way back to Konoha, we were diverted to Wave to back up Team Seven, who had run into trouble."

And upon arrival, how was your team received?"

"Not very well. Sasuke-san and Kiba-san were particularly rude, at least until Hatake-san came and settled them down."

"After being briefed on the situation, Jounin Hatake-san lead both your teams outside for a demonstrative spar. What happened then?"

"Well, when my teammate, Hyuuga Hinata-san went to use a jutsu that neither Sasuke-san or Hatake-san had seen before, he activated his Sharingan to try to copy her technique."

"And your teammate had not given Uchiha-san permission, explicit or implied, to do so?"

"No ma'am. When Anko-sensei told him to deactivate it, he ignored her until Hatake-san whispered something in his ear."

"I see. What, if anything, did Hatake-san do?"

"He went to uncover his own Sharingan, at least until Anko-sensei threatened him."

"Let us skip forward to the next day. When you arrived to the bridge where Team Seven was engaged to the enemy, what did your jounin-sensei tell you to do?"

"Well, she split us up, and sent someone to help each member of Team Seven. There was a thick fog over the bridge where they were fighting, so I carefully advanced, trying to find Sasuke-san. I heard two voices, one of Sasuke's, and another unfamiliar one."

"Objection!" Ketane leaped to his feet, directing his eyes to the Hokage. "Genin Higurashi is not an expert in voice recognition, nor does she have any sensory or memory enhancement techniques."

"Sustained. Ask another question, Murasame-san."

"When you arrived at the bridge, you were tasked to find and assist the defendant, correct?"

"Yes ma'am."

"When you found him, what was he doing?"

"He was standing in the middle of the bridge, talking to the leader of an unidentified squad of ninja that attacked us on the way to Kiri."

"Were you able to overhear any of their conversation?"

"Yes. I caught the end of them talking. The other ninja, who had identified himself as Takehiko to Anko-sensei on the way to Kiri, called mentioned Orochimaru, and how he had left Konoha to get stronger. They continued to converse on how Orochimaru was stronger than even the Hokage, and the stranger more than implied that Sasuke-san should leave Konoha to go to Orochimaru. That was all I was able to overhear before I was detected."

"What did the defendant say when you asked him about it."

"He claimed that it was a personal matter, and that he didn't have to answer me."

And when Uzumaki-san slew one of the mercenaries that were threatening the village of the client, while severely wounded, what, if any, reaction did the defendant show."

"Almost none. It was as if Naruto-kun barely existed."

"Thank you Higurashi-san."

Ketane stood as his counterpart for the prosecution sat. "Higurashi-san, what is your relationship with Hyuuga Naruto?"

"Objection, Hokage-sama, relevance!"

"I am going to prove bias against my client."

"I'll allow it, but get to the point quick."

"Thank you Hokage-sama."

"He is my teammate."

"And was he ever anything else?"

"We dated briefly."

"Before he married your other teammate, Hyuuga Hinata, correct?"

Tenten's mouth twisted into a grimace. "Yes."

"And did you break off your romantic relationship with him after his marriage?"

Tenten hesitated, unsure what to say. She knew that he and Hinata could get into serious trouble if she were to tell him that they were still dating. On the other hand, she was under oath, and if she lied, she could jeopardize the case against Sasuke. Tenten cut her eyes over to Naruto. He met hers, and nodded, letting her know that he was alright with any decision that she made.

"Hokage-sama, please instruct the witness to answer my question."

"Higurashi-san, you have to answer his question truthfully."

"No," Tenten muttered. The gallery erupted into a quiet roar as practically everyone started whispering about what she had said.

The Hokage picked up his gavel and slammed it down onto the podium several times trying to silence the whispers. After threatening to clear the gallery, order was restored.

"So you admit that you are an adulterer?"

"Hokage-sama!" Kiho leaped to her feet, chair scraping back noisily. Hinata quickly pulled Naruto back into his seat and weaved her fingers through his.

"Councilor, you have made your point. Move on or the witness will stand down."

"And how would you describe your boyfriend's relationship with the defendant?"

"They don't like each other."

"So would it be fair to say that you don't like the defendant either?"

"My personal opinion of Sasuke-san has nothing to do with my testimony."

"How impartial of you. I have nothing more for this witness." Tenten repressed a scowl at the smug tone of the lawyer's words.

"Redirect, Hokage-sama?" The Hokage nodded his head and motioned for Murasame to rise. "Genin Higurashi, prior to your interactions in Wave Country, how many times have you spoke to the defendant?"

"Only a handful of times."

"Were you not in the same Academy class as he was?"

"Yes ma'am," Tenten replied.

"And yet you claim that your interaction was minimal?"

"Yes ma'am. I have never been romantically interested in Sasuke-san, like many of my female classmates, so I was not well liked among his fan club. I never had a reason to seek him out."

"That is all I have for this witness, Hokage-sama."

"Next witness," Sarutobi called out.

Tenten descended from the witness's podium and slowly approached the gallery. She hesitated as she approached the row that Naruto was sitting in, but was not given a choice as Naruto reached over and pulled her down next to him.

"We will talk later," he whispered into her ear before turning his attention back to the court proceedings.

"I have no further witnesses, Hokage-sama."

"Defense?"

"I call Uchiha Sasuke to the stand." Sasuke got up and sat down in the witness' booth, immediately being sworn in. "Uchiha-san, how are you doing today?"

"Fine," the sullen Uchiha grunted.

"Could you please tell us all the events the day that Genin Cell Nine arrived at your client's house, claiming that they were reinforcements sent to you?"

"Well, Kakashi-sensei was in the back room recovering from chakra exhaustion, while Sakura-san, Kiba-san and myself were in the front room talking with the client. A knock at the door sounded and we were not expecting anyone that day, so myself and my teammates each drew kunai. I cautiously answered the door, to find Team Nine there. I asked them why they were there and Naruto-san said that they had come to rescue us."

"I see. And what, if any, proof did they offer to show that they were there on orders?"

"None. It wasn't until Kakashi-sensei came out of the back room that we let them in."

"Later, when Jounin Mitarashi-san had assumed temporary control of your squad, what did she do?"

"She took us to a nearby clearing and told us to practice tree walking."

"And then?"

"She took her own students and left us alone until she reappeared at lunch. She did this the entire five days that Kakashi-sensei was recovering."

"Did she teach you anything else?"

"Well, she also taught us water walking on the third day, but she again left us alone to instruct her own students."

"So, in your opinion, she was clearly showing favoritism to her own team?"

"Yes. In fact, she said that she did not have to teach me anything."

"So, in effect, she was leaving you and your teammates to fend for yourselves."

"Yes."

"During the three spars between your respective teams, who was Haruno Sakura set against?"

"Hyuuga Hinata."

"And who won that spar?"

"Hyuuga Hinata."

"How did she win?"

"Hinata-san drew her sword and used some technique to turn it into a black clawed gauntlet. She punched Sakura-san in the back of the head and then tried to eviscerate her."

"I have nothing more for this witness at this time."

Murasame got up and slowly strolled to the witness' podium, holding her hands behind her back. "Uchiha-san, I see your teammate sitting in the gallery in perfect health. What did Hyuuga-sama do immediately after wounding your teammate?"

"She healed her," Sasuke grunted.

"And this was done in spite of the fact that you attempted to steal her ability with her sword just a few minutes prior, correct?"

"Yes," he grunted again.

"And what was your reasoning behind activating your Sharingan on another Konoha shinobi outside of a spar?"

Sasuke remained silent.

"Hokage-sama, permission to treat the witness as hostile?"

"Permission granted."

"Is it true, Uchiha-san, that your words were," she looked down a a piece of paper in her hand, "and I quote, 'I don't care, I need as many jutsus as I can learn,' and when asked why, again I quote, 'Because I have to kill my brother and avenge my clan'?"

"Yes," Sasuke muttered, glowering at the kunoichi in front of him.

"What has your sensei taught you in the entire time that you have been assigned to him as a student?"

"I'm sorry?"

"I asked you, what, if anything, has Hatake-san taught you in the time that he has been your jounin-sensei?"

"We have been working extensively on D-rank missions and teamwork exercises."

"Has he taught you any ninjutsu?"

"...No."

"Worked with you on taijutsu?"

"We have team spars."

"Shown you any genjutsu?"

"I am sure that it has just not come up yet."

"What about your Sharingan?"

"I only awakened it during the mission to Wave."

"So that would be a no?"

"No, he hasn't worked with me on my Sharingan."

"To your knowledge, Uchiha-san, has your sensei taught your teammates anything that he had not taught you?"

"No."

"So, wouldn't you say that Special Jounin Mitarashi-san was a better jounin-sensei to you and your teammates in the five days that she had command of your squad than Jounin Hatake-san did? After all, she did teach you two skills in three days."

"Hatake-sensei is a far more able ninja than Mitarashi-san ever will be."

"And why is that Uchiha-san? Was it not Genin Cell Nine that Jounin Hatake-san dispatched to assault the mercenary compound? And was it not members of Genin Cell Nine that enabled your sensei and teammate to kill two dangerous missing-nin? Finally, was it not Genin Hyuuga Naruto who rallied the villagers and scared off the remaining mercenaries at the bridge despite incapacitating wounds?"

Sasuke was silent for a few long seconds. "Genin Uchiha-san, answer her questions please."

"It is not necessary Hokage-sama. I am done with this witness."

"Defense?" the Hokage asked.

"The defense rests, Hokage-sama."

"Alright then, we are in recess until we are ready to render our decision." With that the Hokage rapped his gavel and the three ninja filed to the left into another room.

The gallery cleared, Naruto taking Tenten's and Hinata's hands and leading them well away from the crowd. "I'm sorry Naruto-kun, but I couldn't lie," Tenten murmured, hands folded and gaze averted.

"Nonsense, Tenten-chan. You did what you had to. There is no shame in telling the truth.." Naruto raised his hand and cupped her face, before kissing her on the forehead.

"Hiashi is not going to be pleased," Tenten said from where she was enfolded into Naruto's embrace.

"Hiashi can go screw himself. He is the one who forced this upon the three of us. If he doesn't like our arrangement, sucks for him. I am not going to stop loving you just because he says so."

Naruto glanced over to where Hinata was a pace away. "Come here," he said to her, pulling her close by wrapping an arm around her shoulders. They sat there on a nearby bench for twenty minutes, until the light outside the courtroom lit, signaling that the three judges were ready to give judgment.

Sasuke and his lawyer rose as The Hokage read out the verdict. "Uchiha Sasuke, you have been charged and convicted in a court of your superiors of the following offenses: dereliction of duty in the second degree, insubordination in the second degree, cooperation with an enemy of the state and attempted technique theft in the first degree. For your punishment, you will be fined one million ryo, have your Sharingan sealed when you are not training under the official guidance of your jounin-sensei or on a mission for a period of three months, required to submit to a psychological examination and interrogation and receive no mission pay for the next three C-rank or higher missions."

"WHAT! This is ridiculous! I am the Last Loyal Uchiha! You cannot do this to me!"

The Hokage rapped his gavel several times to silence both Sasuke and the whispering in the gallery. "Jiraiya, take him away and seal him. Court is adjourned."

Sasuke tried to resist when an elderly man with red face paint came over to him but was subdued in seconds and taken into another room over his shoulder.

Naruto turned to his mother who was seated behind him and gave her a small grin. Now all he had to do was survive the confrontation with Hiashi.


	12. Confrontations

**Chapter Twelve: Confrontations**

"You, you and you, come with me." Naruto had decided to wait outside the courtroom for Hiashi to find them. He studiously ignored the unabashed stares that followed them as the Hyuuga Clan Head lead them to his study in the compound. He gripped both Tenten's and Hinata's hands tightly, and was mildly surprised when they squeezed back with equal fervor. Hyuuga servants quickly found reasons to make themselves scarce as they felt the rage rolling off the man in waves. His face was perfectly smooth, stride immaculately measured, but his pale eyes were lit by an internal fire.

He knelt down behind his desk when the four arrived at his office and he spent several interminable seconds just staring at them. Finally, after an eon and a half, he spoke. "How did that woman find out about you and Higurashi-san? I do not care who you see or what you do in your personal time as long as it does not reflect poorly on the clan, as this will.

"I honestly have no idea how that lawyer found out about myself and Tenten-chan. The only plausible explanation that I can think of was that she was fishing. After all, it was not a huge secret that Tenten and I were dating, but Tenten and I have not seen each other outside of team meetings in the four days since the ceremony in the Hokage's Tower."

Hiashi frowned and crossed his arms. "Very well, assuming you are telling the truth."

"Have I given you reason to doubt me yet?"

"No, but there is a first time for everything. Now, Higurashi-san, I wish to speak to my son-in-law and daughter privately so I will have a servant show you the way out."

Tenten threw a worried glance to Naruto and Hinata before reluctantly allowing the Hyuuga servant to guide her out. "Now, I wish to know more about you new abilities that you gained during your mission."

Naruto quickly glanced to Hinata before answering. "I really don't know how much we can tell you. I don't think that any of us really understands how our powers work."

"Tell me what you can."

Again, Naruto glanced over to Hinata, letting her know to let him speak for both of them. "All I know is that I was hurt really badly during a fight with some unidentified ninja on the way to Kiri and I spoke to a being that said he was my fighting spirit. When I awoke, I had my zanbato in hand, and eventually figured out most of my abilities through trial and error."

"What did your fighting spirit look like?"

"A nine-tailed kitsune."

"A... nine-tailed kitsune? You mean the Kyuubi?"

"Yeah, that is what I thought to at first, but no. For one, Kitsune, and that is its name, is a golden fox, with the tails tipped white. Made my heart miss a beat or three when I first saw it too."

"I see. Now, tell me everything about your powers that you know. I expect you to try to ascertain the exact catalyst that activated these abilities in yourself and your teammates. When you have, you will be instructed to assist the rest of the clan to obtain these abilities."

Naruto shook his head before answering. "I have no idea how I got these powers, much less how to give them to others. All I know is that I died, and then came back. Same thing with Tenten and Hinata. The only way I could think of possibly passing these abilities on is gathering the whole clan and then killing them, hoping for the best."

It was hard to tell, because Hiashi's neutral expression was a scowl, but Naruto thought that Hiashi's scowl increased in intensity. "That is absurd. You mean to tell me that you have not the faintest idea how to teach this ability to anyone else."

"Yes, that is exactly what I am saying."

"Well. Tell me of your abilities then. I want to know exactly what you three can do. I want to know every possible use of your abilities that you can think of. I want to know how long and how quickly you can use your abilities. In short, I want to know your abilities as well as you know them yourselves."

Naruto nodded and began speaking. He was less uneasy telling Hiashi of his abilities than he was the Council, because he was sure that Hiashi would guard whatever he was told with his life. With Naruto's marriage, he now considered these powers Hyuuga secret techniques, and he was the last person who would go spouting the inner workings of the clan Jyuuken style to anyone outside the clan, so it was safe to say anything Hinata and Naruto told him was not going to spread.

Hiashi was interested to learn that Naruto had gained a sealless genjutsu, but equally dissatisfied to learn that Hinata's main ability was more suited to support than front line combat. Such powers were not appropriate to someone who was supposed to be the pride of Konoha's foremost clan, one that prided itself of being composed entirely of warriors, to one degree or another, something that not even the Uchiha could claim. Although, given whet Hiashi knew of her proclivities, it really wasn't much of a surprise.

"And what of Higurashi-san's abilities? Do they lend themselves to rear echelon grunt work also?"

"No, not really. Hers just emphasize her long range specialty."

"How so?"

"Ask her if you wish to know. It is not my place to reveal her abilities."

"I see. Now, leave me. You are both confined to quarters for the rest of the day." His annoyance at their lack of information was abundantly clear as they exited his office.

Fortunately Naruto and Hinata were not left alone for long. Barely ten minutes had passed before the window looking out on an interior courtyard slid open. "What do you want Ero-sennin?" Naruto asked an upside down Jiraiya.

The elderly visage of the Toad Sage scrunched up in a scowl. "And here I was going to perform a jailbreak on your ungrateful self. If that is all the respect that I am going to get..." Jiraiya started to withdraw his head but halted as Naruto dashed over to the window with a huge grin plastered across his face.

"Err... did I say Ero-sennin? I meant Super-sennin." Jiraiya lowered his head again, frowning at the beaming blond. A few seconds passed as Naruto continued to make puppy dog eyes at the wizened ninja. Finally he nodded and gestured for the two of them to gather their equipment. Two minutes later, swords, kunai and shuriken attached securely to their bodies the three of them were heading out.

"Jiraiya-sama, where are we going?" Hinata was glad for the opportunity to escape the mansion, but she was curious at to why Jiraiya himself would wish to aid them.

"The Hokage and your mother think it is time for you to learn how to harness the true power of the demon sealed within you Naruto," Jiraiya responded to the blond. "I, the Great and Gallant Jiraiya-sama, shall be the one to instruct you on these matters."

Naruto scowled in disbelief. "And how are you going to do that?"

"I am the foremost seal master in the world. It is only natural that I would know a little something about how to help you. After all, I am the one who taught your father all he knew." It took about ten minutes to reach the remote and heavily wooded training ground. When Jiraiya and the two genin arrived, Anko, Tenten and the Hokage were already there. Naruto and Tenten met each other and shared a chaste kiss.

"What are you guys doing here?" Naruto asked her.

"Ah, I'm not really sure. The Hokage wouldn't say much."

Naruto looked over to the elderly Hokage. He was standing on the edge of a large seal array, about ten feet across, with a clear space about five feet across in the center. "What is all this Ero-sennin?"

"This is the seal array that is going to start to unlock the Kyuubi's power." Naruto looked hard at the symbols written in blood on the ground. "Well, to be more precise, this seal will contain the Kyuubi's power once released." Naruto nodded still eying the array warily. "There is nothing to worry about Naruto. It is perfectly safe. Now, I need you to take off your shirt and sit in the middle here with me."

Tenten watched hawkishly as Naruto did as instructed, both men sitting with legs crossed and knees touching. Jiraiya nodded to Sarutobi who bit his thumb hard enough to break the skin and smeared it on the seal. The array glowed white for a moment before settling back into a dark red of dried blood. Tenten didn't want to think where Jiraiya had gotten enough blood to draw this seal. Jiraiya nodded confidently and turned to Naruto. "Focus your chakra for me please but do nothing with it." Naruto nodded and formed the ram seal and focused. A strange design slowly faded into sight on his stomach and Jiraiya bent forward to examine it. A few seconds later he sat back, nodding to himself, apparently satisfied with whatever he saw. A second later he formed a double handful of seals and jabbed a white glowing hand into Naruto's stomach over his Dead Demon Consuming Seal. Naruto's eyes bugged out and he opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Several long seconds passed with Naruto frozen in his silent scream, Jiraiya's face screwed in concentration. Then, without any warning, chakra exploded out from Naruto.

It was an absolutely incomprehensible amount, far more than the relatively minuscule amount that he had channeled during the mission to Wave. The chakra swirled up and out of sight, battering against the containing seal. Normally, visibly manifesting chakra was a difficult feat, but the red Kyuubi chakra that was rushing out of Naruto was so thick that it warped the air inside the seal to a degree that it made it almost impossible to see the two seated figures.

This went on for nearly two full minutes, without ever giving the slightest indication of abating. It wasn't until Tenten heard a peculiar noise, somewhere between a grunt and a whine that she looked down. Kneeling in front of the seal array was the Hokage. He had both hands tightly pressed against the seal, eyes screwed tightly closed in concentration, sweating lightly. It was then she realized that the noise was coming from him, as he was pumping what would be an impressive amount of chakra at any other time. Now, it felt like a drop of water falling into a raging river. Then she heard another alarming noise. Looking down to the massive containment seal, she saw that a few, not many, but enough to be worrisome, of the symbols composing the seal were slowly burning away. Now, Tenten only now the most rudimentary elements of sealing, but even she knew that those burning elements was Bad, as in Very Not Good. Looking down to the rapidly tiring Hokage she dismissed him. He had his hands full trying to keep the seal powered.

Deciding quickly, she cupped her hands and called out to Jiraiya. "Jiraiya-sama, the seal is collapsing!"

Jiraiya tore his fierce gaze from Naruto and quickly examined the parts of the seal he could see. His expression didn't change but he nodded grimly to Tenten. Tenten grew increasingly worried as the red chakra continued to pour forth from Naruto and the seal continued to burn. When approximately half the seal was burning and the Hokage was swaying dangerously, Jiraiya released a shout of pain and whipped his head back, as if struck. Tenten, Hinata and Anko poised to leap forward but were halted by Sarutobi's out flung hand silently commanding them to stop where they were. The Hokage swayed once more and collapsed face first into the dirt. A few seconds later Jiraiya sat back up, clutching his left arm at the elbow and allowed the three women to approach.

Naruto looked completely fine and it was clear that Jiraiya was suffering from more than just chakra exhaustion. "Jiraiya-sama," Anko whispered, "What in the world was that?"

"That," Jiraiya responded tiredly, "was unexpected. One of the many functions that the Dead Demon Consuming Seal does is shield Naruto's mind from being invaded from other beings. If you think of the seal as a door, the seal is always cracked open, to allow a trickle of the Kyuubi's chakra to mingle with Naruto's all the time. In order to enter his mindscape, I had to open the door a little farther so I could slip in. Of course that meant that more of the Kyuubi's chakra could pass through. Even though I opened the door as little as possible, the containment seal was nearly overloaded, even with sensei reinforcing it."

"Will they be alright? Naruto-kun and Hokage-sama?"

"Yeah. Sensei is suffering from severe chakra exhaustion and Naruto will wake in a few hours a little sore, but no worse for the wear. Now someone go get sensei and help me up. That took a bit more out of me than I expected." Tenten pulled one of his arms over her shoulders while Anko hoisted the Hokage and Hinata picked Naruto up in fireman carries. When the group exited the forest they were greeted by a sizable contingent of the more powerful and prominent ninja of the village, along with what appeared to be half of the ANBU in attendance.

"Jiraiya-sama, what happened?" Hiashi asked gesturing to the knocked out Hokage, Naruto and himself, clearly tired.

"That is easily explained Hiashi-san. I collected Naruto and Hinata from your home. I had some training that Naruto needed, and would be good for Hinata to see. I assure you all, everything is completely fine. Or at least it will be once we got to the hospital."

"Well, if you do not require the presence of my daughter at this time, Jiraiya-sama, I shall escort her home."

Hinata winced at Hiashi's perfectly civil tone. Hinata was far from a master or the "sublime art of face reading," as Hiashi put it, but being raised by one who was gave Hinata an adequate grasp to know that her father was less than pleased with her. She looked to Jiraiya out of the corner of her eye, hoping without any real expectation that he would say that he still needed her, but Jiraiya nodded. She suppressed a wince as Hiashi subtly commanded her to move to his side, which she did so, reluctantly. Hiashi nodded and let the group past.

**Naruto's Mindscape**

As soon as Jiraiya jabbed his stomach, Naruto was jerked from the real world into what he recognized as the dank sewer where he had first found Kitsune. However, he barely had time to register his surroundings when a wall of water washed over him. He took a breath and it was immediately forced from him as the wave washed over him. Instantaneously he was pissed. At what, he could not say, not that he really cared. All he knew was that he was angry, was enraged, and wanted to rip, shred, maul whoever he could get his hands on into paste. He wasn't sure whether it was the red tide or his anger, but all he could see was red. Such a pretty color, red was. It was the color of life, and the color of death, the color of god. And he was god, more than god, with this power, this might, this most sublime puissance, he could reach up and dethrone God himself. There was nothing that was beyond his reach with this ability.

Naruto didn't know how long he stood there, it could have been a second, an hour, year, and eon, reveling in his strength, but as quickly as it came over him, it left him. Quivering in shock, he blinked several times before he registered something sitting on his left shoulder. Turning around, he saw Kitsune calmly sitting on his haunches, a single tail stretched forward, resting on his shoulder.

Naruto was barely able to not fall to his knees. He was horrified at the emotions that had overwhelmed him with the red tide, terrified at the unadulterated force at his fingertips and the accompanying emotions. He knew what that power was, the chakra of the Kyuubi, and pressed his lips together in anger, his own anger this time. He looked up from his hands and knees down the dark hallway.

"So this is the spirit that is stuck in the sword you carry?" Jiraiya was standing next to them, hands crossed over his chest.

"Not how I would have explained it, but I suppose that is close enough." Kitsune yawned widely and let his red tongue loll, a perfect picture of indolent satisfaction.

"Sorry about that kid. There was a bit more chakra than I expected."

Tearing his glare from the dark hallway, where he knew the Kyuubi had to be, he looked on Jiraiya. "What the hell was that Ero-sennin?"

"Ah, that was one of the suppression seals being released. Like I said, a bit more than I expected."

"Clearly. Now what are you doing here? How did you get into my mind?"

"Oh, that was easy enough. The surge of the Kyuubi's chakra took down your unconscious mental barriers for a moment and I was able to slip past them. Now, lets go find that bastard fox. We need to have a chat." Naruto nodded dumbly and slowly rose to his feet, flanked by Kitsune. Jiraiya strode down the stone passageway, completely confident that he knew where he was going. So Naruto was only slightly surprised when a wall to wall iron bar door faded into view at the end of the hallway. Once they were close enough, Naruto was able to make out a menacing pair of glowing red eyes about two thirds of the way up to the ceiling.

Jiraiya and Naruto stopped in front of the gate, a great bellowing coming from behind the bars. It was, Naruto realized with shock, the sound of the Kyuubi's breath. It sounded labored, as if the Kyuubi had a great amount of stress placed on it recently. Human and demon stared at each other for a few interminable seconds before the Kyuubi leaned forward, enough so that Jiraiya and Naruto were able to make out the rest of its head.

"Who are you insects that disturb my rest?"

"I am Kyushu Jiraiya, and this is Uzumaki Naruto. You are probably already acquainted with Kitsune."

"Ah, yes. The summoner of that bastard Gamabunta, my jailer and his other half. To what do I owe the honor of your illustrious presences?" Naruto was sure that the Kyuubi was mocking them, he just wasn't sure how.

"Nothing onerous, I assure you Kyuubi-dono. We merely wish to collect his due. And by collect, we mean take, with or without your permission."

The giant foxes lips peeled back, revealing fangs that were larger than Naruto himself, and the Kyuubi threw his head back, releasing a great rumbling noise that Naruto realized was laughter. "And what," the Kyuubi managed to gasp out between bouts of laughter, "would possess you to believe that I would aid this young human in any way?"

"Because, if he dies, you die," Jiraiya stated plainly.

Annoyingly enough, that threat only elicited greater peals of laughter from the gigantic demon. "Human, I am a construct of pure chakra. I am immortal. I cannot be killed, even by the greatest of your species. I can only be imprisoned for a time. If my jailer were to die, I would disperse, but eventually, be it one year, or ten or a hundred, I would return. So save your threats for someone they would actually affect."

"Ah, but that is not entirely true. Did you not feel the pull on your chakra just a few minutes ago? That was because I used the key built into the greater Dead Demon Consuming Seal that is your prison. That key forced the door of the seal that separates your mind from Naruto's farther open. You feel weaker, not quite as whole as you were. That is because when I released that seal, it consumed a bit of you, and gave it to Naruto. One eighth to be exact. Now, imagine if I were to twist the key a bit more. You would lose another eighth of your power, a fourth of your total power. And if I opened the seal completely, you would cease to be. Now, releasing the seal would be a guaranteed death sentence on young Naruto, which is why I have only cracked the door, so to speak. So no, you are not quite as immortal as you might think."

"What do you want?"

"Like I said, nothing terribly onerous. Give use of your power, without possession, to Naruto when he needs it, and I won't release the seal right now." Jiraiya stared fearlessly straight up into the penetrating crimson eyes of the Kyuubi.

"No. You would never harm my jailer. You may think that I am blind and deaf in my prison, but I guarantee you I am not. You see my jailer as a replacement for the blond bastard what has trapped me here. He is the son you have never had, and you would never do anything to his detriment."

"You willing to gamble that I would not sacrifice a single person to save my village?" Thrusting an arm beyond the bars, Jiraiya grabbed a fistful of muzzle hairs and pulled the Kyuubi close. Glaring fiercely, Jiraiya growled "now, you are going to do as I tell you, or I will kill you."

Peeling his lips back in a sinister grin, the Kyuubi replied in kind. "Ah, now that was foolish, human." Before anyone could blink, the Kyuubi twisted and snipped Jiraiya's arm off at the elbow. Jiraiya barely had the chance to give an agonized yell before a wave of the Kyuubi's chakra struck him and Naruto, forcefully ejecting both from Naruto's mind.

OoOoO

When Naruto awoke he saw the distinctive white tiled ceiling of the Konoha General Hospital and groaned. He really wasn't terribly surprised that Jiraiya's "training" had landed him here though. To be honest he was just glad that he wasn't in the ICU this time, just the regular shinobi ward. The next thing that he felt was something heavy laying on his chest. A second later he realized that a person was slumped across his body, and judging from the two spots of increased pressure, the weight was a female. A quick glances down proved both of those hypotheses correct, and furthermore, identified the person.

"Geeze, I didn't think I screwed up that badly, did I?"

Tenten lifted her face from where she had been rested it in the crook of her elbow, which was resting on Naruto's chest. Fortunately her eyes were not all red and bloodshot but the wet trails gave evidence that she had been crying not too long ago. "Great, you're awake. Hold on and let me go get Jiraiya-sama. He wants to talk to you as soon as you woke up." Tenten was up and out of the room before Naruto got the chance to utter a single syllable.

Naruto stared up at the ceiling until Tenten returned, Anko and Jiraiya in tow, but Hinata conspicuously absent. Anko and Tenten waited by the door when Jiraiya signaled them back. "What's up, Ero-sennin? Why am I in the hospital again?"

Jiraiya frowned. "How much do you remember, Naruto?"

"All of it, I think. I remember sitting in that seal with you, and then you punched me in the gut, and talking to the Kyuubi before he bit your arm off." Also the ocean of red chakra and the inhuman rage that had overwhelmed him for that indeterminate period of time. "After that, I blacked out."

Jiraiya nodded judiciously. "Yes that is just about everything."

"What about your arm?"

Raising his left arm, Jiraiya carefully flexed and wiggled his fingers. "Nothing that I won't be able to recover from."

"How is the old man? And Hinata? Is she okay?"

"Ah, sensei is recovering from a bout of chakra exhaustion. Hinata is fine. She never had to come to the hospital."

Naruto's brow furrowed in confusion. "How long was I out?"

"Only a day or so, but we had no idea how long you would be out."

"Well, no big there I guess. Not like I really have anyone in the clan other than Hinata that I would want to visit me."

"Oh. Well that's good. Now, let's get you out of here. You don't want to be here any longer than you have to.

"Ya got that right." Five minutes later four people were sneaking out of a third story window and walking down the wall to freedom.

OoOoO

Naruto and Jiraiya were in an unused training field twenty minutes later, along with Anko and Tenten. "Let us start with a review of the basics," Jiraiya began once everyone was seated and comfortable, "of sealing techniques. Now, tell me Naruto, what is the most basic style of seal?"

"The circle seal, named for the fact that the seal is contained in a circle."

"And what are the three base elements of any circle seal?"

"Um... containment, purpose and ignition."

"Exactly. And what are the components for each element?"

"Well, containment has to have a barrier symbol and a buffer symbol. The purpose element has to have a direction symbol and an element symbol. Ignition just needs an activation symbol."

"Good. Now tell me the purpose behind each symbol in a seal and the order that they are inscribed."

"The containment element is drawn first, so that any error in drawing the seal will not damage anything outside the seal. The barrier symbol is drawn first, and the symbol for earth is usually used, as that is the final safety on a seal. The buffer symbol is drawn next, and is usually either wind or water, to kind of short circuit a malfunctioning seal. Then the purpose is drawn. Next is the direction symbol, one of the four cardinal directions most of the time. After that the element symbol or symbols are drawn in, to tell what exactly the seal will do. Finally, the activation symbol is drawn, as once it is drawn the seal is live. The symbol most often used for the activation symbol is most often order or chaos, depending on the general nature of the seal, and intersects the containment element."

"Very good brat. Now, what is the most common type of combat tag, and how is one drawn?"

"Um... the most common type is a fire tag, or explosive tag." Naruto used his finger to draw a fire tag seal in the ground. First was a ring of interlinked earth symbols, followed by a ring of water symbols. Then he drew the symbol for fire. After that he drew they symbol for north, saying that the energy from the fire symbol was to be directed straight forward. Next he drew the symbol for chaos, and intersected the first two rings with another chaos symbol. He paused to examine his work before shifting back to let Jiraiya examine his work.

Tenten watched in surprise as Naruto quickly and efficiently drew an exploding tag. Of course, Jiraiya was able to point out a few errors, mostly due to poor penmanship, so to speak, but then again, he was drawing in the dirt, and Jiraiya acknowledged that. The ensuing lecture lost both Tenten and Anko, who, while knew a bit about sealing, were already outstripped in knowledge by Naruto. The lesson lasted until the late afternoon or early evening. A good portion of the time was spent on Jiraiya having Naruto try to identify the components and elements of his own seal, much to the blond's frustration.

One crucial aspect to sealing was what was called compaction. Many times, a seal was very large, large enough that there simply was no feasible way to carry the seal as the scroll would be ten or fifteen feet in diameter, or even more. So, using a special ninjutsu, one could shrink a seal to more manageable proportions. This had the added benefit of shrinking the symbols comprising the seal to such a size as to be indecipherable. Unfortunately for those trying to deconstruct compacted seals, no one had ever developed a technique, ninja or otherwise, for reversing the process. So that meant that without a blueprint of the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, Naruto was never going to be able to decipher his seal. This was a fact that Jiraiya kept to himself, personally too amusing to spoil at the moment.

OoOoO

It was late afternoon, edging onto early evening when Naruto finally made it to the Hyuuga mansion. He absently greeted Yun and Jun, the two married chunin that seemed to be the Hyuuga equivalent of Izumo and Kotetsu, both career chunin who somehow always managed to get assigned the most boring assignments in the village. Not that either set really seemed to mind. "Hey guys. Either of you know where Hinata-chan is?"

"Good evening, Naruto-sama," the pair replied in unison, bowing before him. "I believe that Hinata-sama is in her mother's garden, reflecting."

"You know you don't have to call me Naruto-sama. Just plain Naruto will work fine."

"As you command, Naruto-sama." Naruto just sighed. No matter how he phrased it, as a casual comment, command or plea, nothing he never was able to get any of the branch house Hyuuga to refer to him in anything but the respectful mode of speech.

Back at his mother's house, they had a small garden in the back yard, used mostly to grow plants to be rendered for poison eventually, but Naruto had cultivated one small corner just for himself. So that was why he was surprised and pleased to find out that Hinata also maintained her own garden on the Hyuuga property. He went to his room first and changed into a ratty old set of his training uniform before walking to the garden. He picked up a trowel and knelt down next to Hinata, assisting her in removing the weeds that had cropped up around the more valuable plants. They worked together in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Naruto spoke.

"So how pissed is Hiashi at me?"

"You might wish to skip dinner tonight." Naruto stared at her in incredulity before she continued. "I could bring you something to eat after, but Father is not a pleasant person to be around at the moment." That statement caused Naruto to set his trowel down and give Hinata a look that said 'is he ever a pleasant person to be around?' "Alright, less pleasant than usual then."

"That sounds more like him. I could probably sneak down to the kitchen during the meal. The head cook likes me I think. Though it's kinda hard to tell sometimes. It's always 'Naruto-sama-this and Naruto-sama-that. Gah! Sometimes I wish someone would just yell at me. All this subservience is a little creepy."

"I am sure that you will adjust to it Naruto-kun."

"Eh, maybe eventually. I dunno. It's just weird to be treated with so much respect all of a sudden." Hinata had no idea how to respond to that. They spent the next hour in a comfortable silence, content to let the quiet stretch. Dinner that night was a tense affair, both Naruto and Hinata sitting on needles waiting for the explosion that never came.

OoOoO

"What do you mean I can't see my son?"

"I am sorry Mitarashi-san, but Naruto-sama has been confined to quarters and is not allowed to see anyone on personal business." The gate guard looked extremely apologetic.

"He is my son dammit. You can't tell me I am not allowed to see him. Now let me by."

"I am sorry Mitarashi-san, but Naruto-sama has been confined to quarters and is not allowed to see anyone on personal business."

"Arg, what are you, robots? Fine then. If I can't see Naruto, then I would like to see Hinata."

"Forgive me, but Hinata-sama has also been confined to quarters."

"You are shitting me, right? I want to talk to my genin, and you refuse to let me do so?"

"If you are here on a social call, yes. If not, I am sorry Mitarashi-san, but I have my orders. If you have official business with either Hinata-sama or Naruto-sama please hand over your orders and I can let you pass."

Anko grimaced and sighed. "Well, I suppose I can't fault you for that. Would you let both Naruto and Hinata that I was here?"

"I can do that Mitarashi-san."

"Thanks." Anko turned and walked away from the main gates of the Hyuuga complex to go back to her house. Unfortunately, Naruto and Hinata's rooms were towards the center of the complex, so a daylight jailbreak was an iffy proposition after the last time. Anko entered her house (it had stopped being home when Naruto had left,) and a small grin formed when she saw a messenger hawk resting on the sill of a window. Letting the bird in, she withdrew the flattened scroll from the leather envelope on the bird's back. Her grin expanded to a positively radiant smile when she perused the contents. She swore to give the Hokage a very personal thank you when she got the chance.

The first thing she did after reading the letter was to stop by the Higurashi's. When the door was answered, a very disgruntled Higurashi Kouseki frowned at her.

"Tenten-chan is grounded. So unless you need her for a mission or team training, she is unavailable."

"The Hokage has tapped our team for a mission and I need to speak to her immediately."

"Fine. Come in and I will get her."

"That is not necessary. I know where her room is so I can go get her." Anko did not wait for an answer as she brushed past the older man and ascended the stairs. Gently she knocked on Tenten's door.

"What now?" Tenten snapped.

"Tenten-chan, it's me." There was a five second pause before the door opened.

"Sorry Anko. I thought that you were one of my parents."

"No, it's okay. Grab your weapons, we're going."

"I'm sorry I can't. Unless we have a mission or team training, I'm grounded."

"Well, it is a very good thing that I happen to have one of those two things" and showed Tenten the summons.

Tenten grinned and quickly taped a pair of weapon pouches to her legs and grabbed half a dozen scrolls off the night table and slinging her two rifles over her shoulders as well as a satchel of ammunition before following Anko out. She waved good bye to her parents and then the pair was on their way to the Hyuuga complex.

Anko saw the gate guards sigh when she approached, which only made her smile wider. She held up the mission summons as the guard opened his mouth to turn her away.

"Yeah yeah, I know, they are confined to quarters, blah blah blah. But you see here, I got me a mission summons, which means that they have to come with me, so let me in or get busted with the Hokage." The guards exchanged a glance before admitting the two women in. Anko waved off a Hyuuga servant, and strode purposefully to her son and daughter-in-law's rooms. She waved the paper at the servant kneeling in front of the door to the rooms and entered.

"Hey Mom, how'd you get in here? The guy outside said we aren't allowed visitors." Naruto and Hinata were each seated on one of the overstuffed armchairs that were in the room, one on each side of a coffee table that had a shogi board, a game in progress. Even from a casual glance, it was clear that Hinata was thrashing him quite badly.

"We gots us a mission. So shut, suit up, and get out. Hopefully before Hiashi-bastard appears." She waited a few seconds as nobody moved. She facepalmed and sighed. "He's right behind me, isn't he?" Without waiting for confirmation, she turned around to look up the three inches that separated them. "Team Nine has been tapped for a mission. So, they are coming with me, nothing you can do."

"I know. I came here to speak to my daughter. Come." He directed the last word to Hinata, who followed her father into her room, shutting the door behind her. Naruto went into his room and emerged a minute later Kitsune on his back over his tan trench coat and weapon pouches on his hips and legs. Two minutes after that, Hinata and Hiashi reemerged from her room. Hinata didn't look any worse for the wear, and Hiashi looks slightly less annoyed than he had when he had gone in.

He departed without saying a word. Now that his father-in-law was gone, Naruto took Tenten's hands in his and the pair shared a brief kiss. Hinata looked away, and Anko smirked. "Alright you two love birds, time to go. The Hokage is not a man to be kept waiting." Team Nine rapidly made their escape, Naruto making a face at Hanabi as they passed the other Hyuuga in the hall. Soon enough they were over the wall and on the roofs. A few minutes after that, they entered the tower and ascended the seven stories to the Hokage's office. There were four other ninja in the room aside from the Hokage. Two were in green spandex, bowl haircuts, and eyebrows large enough to be alive, one was a Hyuuga, and the last was a blond with her hair up in a bun and bangs hanging long over one eye. She wore a purple top, cut to expose her shoulders and midriff enhancing her considerable bust, and a purple skirt that went halfway to her knees, grey leotard pants under those. On her knees and elbows she wore bands of ninja mesh.

"Ah, good afternoon, Anko-san."

"Afternoon Hokage-sama."

"Now that Team Nine is here, may we begin the briefing?" That was the Hyuuga, who looked vaguely familiar to Naruto.

"Of course Neji-kun. But before we do so, why doesn't everyone introduce themselves?"

"YOSH! I will start off, as I am Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast, Maito Gai! Along with my most youthful student Rock Lee, and his two teammates Hyuuga Neji, and Yamanaka Ino." Naruto recognized the Hyuuga now. He was a cousin of Hinata's from the branch house, a real asshole.

"Mitarashi Anko, and my son Hyuuga Naruto," her face twisted slightly at this and Naruto caught a slight tightening of Neji features, "Hyuuga Hinata and Higurashi Tenten."

Maito Gai apparently had not gotten the memo. "Hyuuga Naruto? You do not have the Byakugan."

"Hyuuga by marriage. Hinata is my wife."

"YOSH! Your FLAMES OF YOUTH must BURN brightly for ones so young to be bound in HOLY MATRIMONY," Gai exclaimed, missing the Hokage's look.

"Not exactly," Naruto muttered, again unheard by the large man.

"Now that everyone is acquainted, we will begin the briefing." He picked up a pair of manila folders and handed them to Gai,and he handed one to Anko. "Gai, I am assigning your team and Team Nine a C-rank escort mission, with you in command. There is a merchant caravan in Otafuku Gai that requests escort to the Grass Country. This is one of the larger caravans traveling this year, and so will be a medium level target to bandits and highwaymen. The mission will last approximately four weeks, including travel time."

"How many wagons and merchants are in the caravan?" Anko asked.

"Ten wagons and thirteen merchants. You will need to leave at ten o'clock to arrive at the Konoha Shinobi Employment Office at one. Any other questions should be answered by reading the mission dossiers. Now unfortunately, I have stacks of paperwork to deal with yet, so good day and good luck." Everyone bowed at the dismissal and quickly exited the office.

Gai looked at a clock hung on the wall of the lobby. "It is three o'clock now. Let us meet at the east gate tomorrow at 9:30 before we leave."

"That sounds good. I am sure that there is plenty that needs to be done before you and your team is ready to leave tomorrow."

"There is. See you tomorrow!" The last was shouted as Gai led his team away from the Tower, quickly ascending to the rooftops of the town.

Naruto looked over to Hinata and sighed. We had better get back to the compound to pack." He and Hinata had barely jumped when Anko's hand clamped down on their collars, eliciting a strangled "urk!" from Naruto.

"Nuh uh. You three are staying at my place tonight. We need to make plans and that could take all night." Naruto opened his mouth to counter that when Anko gave him a look and he realized what she was doing.

Next, they dropped by Tenten's house to allow her to gather her equipment while Anko explained to her parents that she was sleeping over with her to make plans for tomorrow's mission. Naruto and Hinata quickly gathered their gear from their rooms in the Hyuuga complex and the group was beating a hasty exit when they ran into an obstacle in the form of Hiashi and Hanabi.

"Hiashi-san," Naruto greeted with a slight head nod. "Gaki-chibi," he said to Hanabi, grinning slightly as she scowled and muttered "idiot" under her breath.

"Where are you going Naruto-san, Hinata-chan?"

"We have a joint mission with Team Gai tomorrow Father and are going to spend the night at Anko's to plan for it."

"No you most certainly will not. You can do that here just as well."

At this Anko grinned. "Ah, but you got no say in this Hiashi-san. I am their commanding officer and this is a team function. I am perfectly within my rights to order them to stay the night at my house, Also, Naruto is my son, so he is allowed to visit his dear old mother with his wife if he so pleases."

Hiashi had no way to respond to that, so rather than give her the pleasure of seeing him standing there searching for a proper response, he beat a quick retreat. Hyuugas that they ran into on the way out found somewhere else to be, because the way that Anko was smiling most thought she was on her way to a slaughter.

OoOoO

The three genin dropped their packs in their rooms in Anko's house before Hinata walked into the kitchen to see Anko bustling about. Hinata was mildly surprised to see Anko wearing a frilly pink apron with the words "annoying the cook results in being the portions." Although who, other than Naruto, would try to deliberately annoy Anko was a good question. Even the Hokage stepped lightly around her when she was in a temper.

Hinata cleared her throat after a few seconds to gain her attention. "Hello Hinata-chan. You need something?"

"No. Naruto-kun and Tenten-chan are in his room so I wanted to know if your needed some help."

"Sure," Anko pointed to a pile of vegetables that had yet to be chopped after Hinata washed her hands. A few minutes later, Anko filled the rice cooker and leaned back against the counter to face Hinata. Hinata was facing away from her still preparing the veggies. Anko carefully considered what to say to the blue haired girl as this kind of thing was not her forte. She had no daughters and was hardly what most would call feminine. Eventually she just decided to wing it. It seemed to work for Naruto most of the time. Anko approached Hinata from behind and enfolded the younger woman in a hug.

Hinata immediately stiffened, not expecting the gesture. "What is wrong Anko?"

"Nothing Hinata-chan. It's just I wanted to thank your for everything."

Hinata turned as Anko finally released her. "What do you mean?"

"Do you love my son?"

"Of course Anko!"

"And yet you allow Naruto and Tenten to keep seeing each other."

Hinata hesitated for a few seconds before answering. "I know Naruto-kun does not care for me like he does for Tenten-chan. I would rather he be happy with another woman than unhappy with me."

Anko smiled a bit at this. "You know, Naruto thinks of your as one of his best friends."

"I know that," Hinata replied, more than slightly wistful.

"I am sure that you will find someone to love you too some day."

"That would be nice, but only if I were to divorce Naruto-kun, and that is something that my father would never allow."

"Your father will not live forever."

"I know that also, but by the time he passes on I doubt that I could do anything."

Anko reached forward and pulled Hinata into a hug which she returned. "Don't lose hope. I am sure that everything will work out for the best in the end." Hinata said nothing, knowing better.

OoOoO

The moment the door to Naruto's room was closed Tenten tore the backpack from her shoulders. Her next action was to curl her fists in the blue fabric of Naruto's shirt and yank him into her. Their mouths slammed together with bone-jarring force but neither one cared.

The next three minutes were spent mouth to mouth, going so long that Anko, had she been there, would have wondered if either needed to breathe. When Naruto and Tenten had had enough of each other for the moment, Naruto pulled Tenten into his lap as he sat on his bed.

Both were silent for a minute, recovering their breath. "You know I love you."

"I know Naruto-kun, I know."

"It's just that I feel bad for Hinata-chan. She has nobody other than us, and I hate rubbing our relationship in her face."

"It is alright Naruto-kun. That is just one more reason whey I love you." Tenten punctuated that remark with a quick peck on the lips, which quickly turned into another full on make out session as Naruto laid back on his bed and pulled Tenten on top of him. She had already been slightly flushed before but her blush expanded to encompass her whole face as Naruto's hands, which had been resting comfortably at the small of her back moved to cup her buttocks.

Tenten smiled into the kiss. If he could be naughty, than so could she. Her hands, which were pressed against Naruto's chest, slid south. She tugged at the bottom of his shirt, untucking it so she could run her warm hand across his ridged stomach before moving to his chest. Tenten traced the contours of his chest before pinching one of his nipples lightly.

That made him grunt slightly and dig his fingers into her buttocks a bit more. Naruto broke their kiss and began trailing kissed from the corner of her mouth along her jaw and down her neck. As he did this, he slid one hand from her buttocks up under her shirt.

He slowly stroked her silky smooth skin, using his fingers tor trace the line of her spine all the way to her neck before sliding his pant to rest just above her hips. He grinned mischievously as he felt nothing but skin all the way. "What, no bra today Tenten-chan? Hoping to get lucky?"

"Can it buster. I don't use bras, I bind them. And I had just gotten out of the shower when Anko came to pick me up." She knocked her forehead into his mouth lightly as he opened it again. "Watch what you say, or I will get up and go check on dinner downstairs."

When Naruto wisely said nothing, she grinned victoriously and laid her head down on his chest and closed her eyes. She smiled as she felt Naruto growl in pleasure, her breathing unconsciously falling in rhythm to his heartbeat.

"Tenten-chan," Naruto said softly several minutes later.

"What is it Naruto-kun?" Tenten replied, turning her head chin resting on his chest looking at him through her lashes.

"Would you be averse to me taking Hinata on a date after we get back from our mission?"

That caught Tenten by surprise. Tenten pushed herself up so that she was leaning on her elbows and looking down at Naruto. "Why? She asked.

"Well, for a bunch of reasons. I don't think that it is fair that she and I are married yet for all intents and purposes we might as well not be, it is only because of her kindness that we are still dating. I know that she hurts every time she sees us together, and I don't like it. I know that Hinata loves me and I would like to repay her if only a little bit."

Tenten was silent for a few long seconds, musing over what Naruto said. "That isn't everything though."

"No it isn't," Naruto admitted, averting his gaze. "I think I might be falling in love with her also." Tenten said nothing. "You are still and will always be my first love. You are beautiful, strong and determined. There is nothing in this world or any other that will ever change that. Ever. " Naruto had removed his hands from her back and buttocks to cup her face and make her look at him "Tenten-chan, look at me. I still love you, I always will. It is just that I love Hinata also. I swear that she will never take your place in my heart." Tenten still said nothing so he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "Please Tenten-chan, say something."

"I don't know what to say Naruto-kun."

"That is alright Tenten-chan. I don't need an answer right now. Just know that whatever you decide, I will honor it. I will never give you reason to doubt my love for you. You are my precious Tenten-chan." Again, Tenten said nothing but laid her cheek and snaked her arms under his body and hugged him tightly.

Naruto didn't know how long they spent like that, but he must have dozed off because they were jerked awake by a knock on his door. Anko poked her head and grinned at them. "Up and at 'em lovebirds. Dinner's on." Dinner was a quiet affair, despite the quality of the food. Anko carried most of the conversation because the air between Naruto and Tenten was slightly tense, and Hinata had clammed up, her residual insecurities assuring her that whatever happened between Tenten and Naruto was her fault.

Everyone went to be soon after dinner as they had a mission on the morrow. Naruto kissed Tenten good night in front of her door before murmuring something in her ear, Hinata quickly entered her room not particularly eager to see them being intimate.

OoOoO

Anko was up and pounding on doors the next morning. Ten minutes after that Team Nine was alert and in the process of being fed. Twenty minutes after that they were triple checking weapons and armor and packs, making sure that everything that they would need for the mission was where it was supposed to be. Nobody spoke as they hopped across the roofs of the town heading towards eastern gate. The four ninja alighted at the gate exactly at 9:30 as Gai had asked. But the sight that greeted their eyes was not a pleasant one.

The two Beautiful Green Beasts of Konoha were currently engaged in certain actions that would leave the three genin of Team Nine traumatized for years. Gai and Lee were locked in a man-hug, dancing around in a circle, screaming each others names, while in the background a sun set amid foaming waves crashing on a rocky shore.

"KAI! KAI! KAI! Sensei why isn't it working?" Fortunately for all involved, Tenten's yelling caught the attention of the two men and they released each other, the horrifying genjutsu fading. Of course, what replaced it wasn't much better. Naruto was looking directly at Gai as he greeted them, immediately striking his "good guy" pose, the shine from his teeth knocking Naruto back.

"YOSH! I SEE YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH BURNING BRIGHTLY AS EVER ANKO-SAN!"

"Yeah, yeah, Gai. Though would you mind toning it down a couple dozen notches. I think there was someone in Demon Country that didn't hear you."

"Anko-san, you have to have been hanging around my ever cool and outrageously hip rival Kakashi!"

"Errr... sure." Anko really wasn't going to risk arguing with him, lest she set him off on a rant about the flames of youth or something. "Now that we are all here, why don't we get the meeting started."

"Ah, yes. Even your mask of professionalism is not strong enough to hide your joy at being assigned this mission! Why don't we reintroduce ourselves and tell me a bit about your specialties as shinobi, so that when we arrive at our destination, I will know how to employ your FLAMES OF YOUTH to best effect."

"Sure I guess. Uh, well, I'm Mitarashi Anko and I specialize in assassinations and hit and run fights. My ninjutsu arsenal leans towards shadow and snake manipulation, with a few ninjutsu from every element. "

"Hyuuga Naruto, I have mastered the Shadow Clone Technique and know two wind element ninjutsu's. I am a close range fighter, and am pretty good with my katana. Also, I can make small to medium yield explosive tags."

"Higurashi Tenten, I specialize in long range combat by fighting with firearms. Also, I have three earth jutsus and advanced chakra control. Although melee combat is not my forte, I am somewhat skilled with my katana."

"Hyuuga Hinata, I have a medium proficiency with my bloodline and family taijutsu, have a pair of lightning techniques along with average skill with my sword."

"I am Maito Gai, and along with my student Rock Lee am an taijutsu expert. I have a summoning contract with the turtles, but have sworn not to use ninjutsu or genjutsu in front of my most youthful student Lee."

"Hyuuga Neji. I have expert proficiency with the Jyuuken and my bloodline."

"Yamanaka Ino. I use my family's secret mind control techniques along with medial jutsu and genjutsu in combat."

"Anko-san, if I may ask you and your students a few questions?" Anko nodded. "Don't you hold the contract for the snake summons?"

"Yes I do. I can summon up to medium-level summons without a problem."

"Naruto-san, you said that you can use the Shadow Clone Technique. How many can you make before becoming tired."

Naruto considered that for a moment. "I don't really know. I once made over a thousand clones at once."

"Really? That is a most youthful accomplishment. Hinata-san, how far can you extend your sight with your Byakugan?"

"Um, I can see about five hundred yards if I concentrate."

"That is very impressive for your age Hinata-san."

"Tenten-san, you said you use firearms?" The brunette girl nodded. "How do you use them, if I may ask. The time it takes to reload a rifle is one of the reasons why they are not used in ninja combat."

"Well, I usually create a pair of mud clone to reload my rifles, and I shoot the loaded one. I can fire a shot off every ten seconds, and hit a man-sized target a thousand yards away. I have seals inscribed on my guns to suppress the noise and smoke."

"Very impressive Tenten-san, especially if you can shoot as far as you say you can." Gai looked up at the rising sun. "It is time to get going if we want to meet our clients on time." Nodding to himself he lead the seven other shinobi to the guard house, confirming the members of the mission leaving, recording the time and when they were expected to be back. Ten minutes later everyone had ascended to the treetops and were making good time to Otafuku Gai.

OoOoO

Naruto was mildly impressed with Otafuku Gai. It was a sizable city, maybe a bit smaller than Port City, and about as busy. Naruto was not taking in the sights much though. He was worried about Tenten. She had barely spoken a dozen words to him since their conversation the previous day. She was one of his most precious people, and he didn't want to lose her over a single conversation. He had spent much of the previous night and most of the trip to the city trying to think of what to say to her. Thing was, he really couldn't think of much to say. He had made his views clear, and wasn't sure how to reiterate them. Either way, he had to speak to her privately when they made camp tonight.


	13. Loss of a Loved One

**Chapter Thirteen: Loss of a Loved One**

The Shinobi Employment Office was a nondescript building, three stories tall, whitewashed facade, red tile roof, a leaf emblem emblazoned large over the door and on the door, the only indicators of what the building housed. Gai entered the building into a very large lobby. It was about fifty paces square, with an even dozen attendants seated behind a desk that spanned the entire back wall. The open area was filled with cheap plastic chairs, maybe a third filled with people filling out packets.

Gai approached one of the clerks and handed over his ninja identification. The man barely looked up to accept the documents as he held them under a blue light. Apparently whatever he saw passed muster because he handed them back and pointed to a door set into the left wall by the desk marked "Authorized Personnel Only."

Gai silently nodded to the clerk and passed through the door. The room beyond was far smaller, maybe twenty paces by twenty. Again, there was a desk with several clerks behind it. Again, he handed his papers to the clerk who checked them and handed them back.

"Jounin Maito Gai reporting for mission 0156982." One of the clerks began shuffling through a stack of papers before handing one to Gai.

"Your client is in room 35." He pointed to another door. Gai nodded and went through it.

The man in the hospital-like room could have been cut from a mold. He was of medium height, average black eyes, nondescript brown hair cut in an average fashion. Overall, he was some one you saw and forgot immediately. "Hello," Gai said calmly. "My name is Maito Gai and I will be leading the team that will be guarding your caravan to Grass Country."

The merchant stood up and looked at the much taller shinobi in the eye. "Muramasa Shinji. A pleasure to meet you," he said warmly. "I am glad to see you are a little early. I have had some experience with less punctual members of your village before."

"Well, that is unfortunate, but we are here now." Gai paused a moment before continuing. "These are my teammates," he said, introducing the other seven ninja.

"Three Hyuuga!" Shinji exclaimed. "How lucky. Although you don't seem to possess the Byakugan."

"That's because I'm Hyuuga by marriage." Naruto sighed.

"Really? You love must be strong to marry at such a young age."

"Something like that," he muttered, not at all willing to straighten the man out, and go into the detailed explanation that it would require.

"Alright then," Shinji said, clearly not understanding and disconcerted by the serious air that had fallen over the group. "Well, if you are ready shall we meet up with the others?"

Gai nodded and gestured for the merchant to exit the room. Shinji and the ninjas exited the building, leading the shinobi to the edge of town. There they found the ten covered wagons lined up, ready to depart, a few of the other prominent merchants among the caravan standing in a group, presumably to greet them.

"Maito-san, allow me to introduce the other leaders of the caravan. This is my wife Muramasa Izumi, Akahoshi Shimon, Hayase Hibari, and Iashi Hisame," gesturing to a pretty, middle-aged woman, and elderly man with no hair, a black-haired, black-skinned thirty-something woman, and a young man, probably no more than twenty-five. Each person bowed slightly to the assembled shinobi when they were named. "If there is nothing you need, we would like to get going."

"Of course Muramasa-san. We are ready to depart now." Shinji nodded and climbed into the driver's seat of the first wagon. Gai turned to the others.

"Ino-chan, Tenten-chan, you are our long-range support. I want you on top of the wagons, a third of the way from the front and the back. Neji-kun, Hinata-chan, I want one of you at the head and tail of the caravan. Anko-san, stay in close to the wagons. Naruto-kun, could you please make enough shadow clones to create a ring of outriders five hundred yards out. Lee and I will run a roving patrol." Everyone nodded at their assignments. "Set your radios to channel four. Command is seven." Again, everyone nodded and split up to get to their posts. Most of the merchants looked surprised when Naruto exploded into smoke, to reveal several hundred copies. Five minutes later, they were underway.

OoOoO

The first night that the caravan broke for the night, Anko pulled three scrolls from her trench coat. Naruto's grin could have split his head in half. "You guys know what these are. First one by the time we get to our destination. Second one a week after that. Now get to it." She tossed one scroll at each genin and walked back to camp. A few seconds later, the most disturbing grin that Tenten and Hinata had ever seen spread across Naruto's face. A pair of seconds after that, he started giggling insanely.

Tenten tugged the scroll from Naruto's grip to see what technique Naruto had given her son. Her face drained of blood as she passed the scroll to Hinata, who gulped and whispered those fateful words. "Great Shadow Clone Explosion."

OoOoO

Anko was by the fire, chatting amicably with Gai when she was blown from her feet as Naruto fly-tackled her. When Naruto let her up, she rubbed her bruised ribs, smiling ruefully. "You like your new technique?"

"Oh God yes!" Naruto exclaimed. Anko tilted her head. Maybe giving Naruto a technique that turned him into a suicide bomber was not such a great idea in hindsight. The first time Naruto made a suicide clone, everyone froze, the merchants going for cover, the shinobi whipping out weapons. Gai and Lee had a good laugh, Neji, Ino glared daggers at him, Anko, Tenten, and Hinata just sighed.

Naruto's second technique was Water Release: Geyser Shot. It was a water attack that let the user spew forth a torrent of water. Tenten got an earth attack called Earth Release: Earth Serpent and a wind attack called Wind Release: Windstream. Earth Serpent was pretty self-explanatory, creating a giant snake made of dirt to control. Windstream created a high-density flow of air that could be shot from the mouth, or with enough skill, shot from a hand. What differentiated it from the Pressure Bullet was that the Pressure Bullet compacted the air into a single mass, whereas the Windstream Technique was a continuous flow. In other words, the first was spat, and the second was blown.

Hinata received Lightning Release: Repulsion and Fire Release: Inferno. Repulsion created an expanding wave of electricity emanating from herself, magnetizing any metal within range, giving her the ability to attract or repel anything affected the wave touched. Inferno gave her the ability to breathe fire, like a dragon.

When Tenten asked why Anko had given them one attack from a secondary element, Anko went into lecture mode. "Eventually, you are going to encounter a foe that utilizes the element that you are weak against. Having at least one attack strong against your weak element will negate this weakness to a certain degree. I am not going to have you die on me the first time you run up against a lightning user, Tenten, just because you don't have anything that will beat his attacks."

Almost all of the jutsus that Anko had given her students were either A- or B-ranked skills, but after months of constantly working to increase their control and chakra reserves, Tenten and Hinata had mid-chunin level chakra control and reserves, much higher than any of their classmates. As far as Anko was concerned, she had not given them anything that they could not handle.

OoOoO

After dinner was made and consumed, Naruto walked into the forest, gesturing for Tenten to follow. He stopped at the nearby stream and made a clone. It ran off into the foliage and there was a brief and furious battle a few seconds later, Anko's voice heard shouting at the clone. Naruto smirked when his clone was dispelled and Anko had been run off. Naruto turned to Tenten, sobering up.

"Tenten-chan, we need to talk." Tenten sighed and sat down on a nearby log. Naruto sat down next to her and held her hands in his.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun. I've just had a lot on my mind lately."

"About what we talked about last night?"

"About that and other things."

"Anything you would care to share?" Tenten looked at Naruto. He was so close to her; warm hands cupping hers, face completely open, urging her to share her burden with him. She could smell him, a combination of clean sweat, machine oil used to maintain their equipment, and a faint animal scent. She removed her hands from his and wrapped him on a hug, resting her head on his chest under his arms. Naruto in turn wrapped his arms around her, wrapping her in a comforting cocoon. He said nothing, sure that she would speak in her own time.

"My parents have forbidden me from seeing you outside team meetings."

**Flashback no Jutsu**

Tenten had just entered the house after being interrogated by Hiashi with Naruto and Hinata. Both her parents were sitting in the family room, hands on knees, faces carefully schooled to impassivity. Tenten stopped in the doorway before sitting down in the couch across from them.

"Tenten-chan, we need to talk about your relationship with your teammate."

"You mean you want to lecture me on how I should stop seeing Naruto-kun."

Both of her parents winced slightly at the acid in her voice. "Tenten-chan, you must understand he is married now. It is most improper for you two to continue to maintain a romantic relationship," Chichi said.

"The boy's father-in-law could make life very difficult for you."

"No," Tenten said flatly, crossing her arms under her breasts.

Chichi placed a hand on Kouseki's forearm and he sat back, letting her take over. "Tenten-chan, please, be reasonable. Naruto-san is not a safe individual to be around in any case."

"You are, of course, referring to the Kyuubi sealed in him."

Both her parents froze. "Who told you that?" Chichi asked carefully.

"Naruto-kun told me. He told me during the mission to Water and Wave Countries, after he used its chakra to save our team. He was terrified that we would reject him like the majority of the village had."

"Then you understand how dangerous he is." Chichi said, no small measure of relief in her voice.

"I do," Tenten said, and her parents visibly relaxed. "He is no more dangerous than any other active duty genin in the village."

"Tenten-chan-"

"He has never hurt or killed a single person in this village, civilian or shinobi. In fact, he has hurt quite a few less than most, because he was never allowed to participate in taijutsu or ninjutsu practice in the Academy. The first time Hinata-chan and I sparred with him while he was using taijutsu, he couldn't stop apologizing for beating the both of us so badly. He is one of the kindest and gentlest people I know."

"He is dangerously disloyal to the village," her mother tried again.

"No more than anyone else who was told that their personal techniques would be taught to everyone and become general knowledge. I don't know what you have heard, but I was at the Council meeting you are referring to, and can assure you, he is no traitor."

"Tenten-chan, we are your parents. We know what is best for you, even if you don't believe it, and will stop seeing this boy socially."

"NO I will NOT, Father. I love Naruto-kun, and refuse to give up on him just because of a bunch of power-hungry geezers are paranoid. Naruto-kun is one of the kindest, gentlest, strongest men I know. He has been abused and ignored by all but a very select handful of people, and I REFUSE to abandon him when he needs me most. I find his loyalty to this village amazing, given how he has been treated.

"When we were sent to Wave, he took a sword through the chest to kill a man that was going to kill his mother. Then, when he was left at the house we were based in, left and rallied the villagers of the town, killing another mercenary and sending the rest fleeing, before collapsing from his wound. If he had not showed up then, I and my team might have died. Moreover, what thanks does he get? NONE! So, TELL me, DOES that SOUND like a demon? He nearly DIED TWICE saving me and my team. Those scars he has on his arms and head, do you know how he got them? He was put into a coma after being nearly beaten to death on his tenth birthday, and he got half a dozen visitors the entire time. The Hokage had to take over the case against his would-be murderers to make sure they weren't let off with a slap on the wrist. Naruto-kun has suffered so much and there is no way either of you are going to keep me from him."

Chichi and Kouseki sat there, paralyzed from the killing intent that their daughter was directing at them. Tenten had risen from the couch at some point and was now staring down at them, anger and contempt in her eyes. It had not struck them until just this moment how much Tenten was an adult. Legally, she had entered her majority when she graduated the Shinobi Academy, but they kept treating her as if she was still the same little girl that liked to play with her dolls. She had been a ninja for over three months, and had been forced to grow up a lot in that time, so much so that Chichi and Kouseki barely recognized her.

Tenten saw the shock and a bit of fear in their eyes and relaxed a bit. The steely look in her eyes faded and she sat back down in the other couch. "Mother, Father, I'm sorry for yelling at you. However, I am a ninja and legally, an adult. I know that I can be killed any time that I leave the village. Therefore, I refuse to not be with him for as long as I can. Sorry if you can't agree with me, but I will not change my mind." Tenten stood up and ascended the stairs, closing the door to her room behind her.

**Flashback no Jutsu kai**

Naruto was quiet for several minutes after Tenten stopped telling her story. "I'm sorry, Tenten-chan."

That surprised her. She sat up, pulling out of his embrace to look him in the eye. "Why? You did nothing."

"I'm sorry that our relationship made you have a fight with your family."

"Naruto-kun, there was nothing you could have done to avoid this. It was just something that my parents needed to hear. I will not stop seeing you because someone tells me to, be they my parents, Hiashi-bastard or the Hokage himself." Tenten hugged his chest again. "I love you Naruto-kun, and I will keep loving you, not matter what anyone says."

Naruto wasn't quite sure what to say to that. "Thank you Tenten-chan, for fighting for us." Naruto stroked her back with one arm as the other pulled her head up to kiss her. They stayed on that log by the stream for a while, where it was just the two of them and they could love each other without anyone else.

OoOoO

The next night, Anko took Naruto aside after dinner. "What's up Mom?"

"I am going to start teaching you a technique that I don't want the others to see."

"Why not? And why only to me? Why not just give me a scroll like usual?"

"Well, one, this is one of my personal jutsu that I am passing to you as my son, not my student. Two, there is no way that I would trust this knowledge to any scroll. Now, watch closely as I do it." Naruto carefully memorized the three seals for the Hidden Shadow Snake Hands. Naruto made the seals a dozen times before actually trying it out for real. He was disappointed when he could only get one large garden snake out or each sleeve instead of the poisonous vipers that Anko made.

Anko patted him on the head in a consolatory manner. "Ah, don't worry about it brat. Nobody gets a technique right the first time. Keep practicing. I'll come get you for dinner."

OoOoO

The trip to Grass took eight days. Things were mostly quiet during that time, with the women of the caravan constantly fawning over Hinata, Tenten, and Ino, offering them large glasses of hot chocolate every so often, offering to let them ride inside the wagons so as to be out of the cold January weather. Even the mild mannered Hinata found herself snapping at the driver of the wagon she was pacing after the fifth time he offered to let her ride up with him so she didn't "needlessly exhaust her pretty little self." Anko found this incredibly amusing, having an outside view on the situation, as none of the merchants had enough nerve to approach her unless absolutely necessary.

The first major altercation occurred five days out from Otafuku Gai. The caravan had stopped for the evening. The women of the caravan had found out that Naruto and Hinata were married almost immediately. Naruto and Tenten were being discreet as everyone knew that the merchants would cause a fuss. Dinner had been served and consumed and most of the merchants had either already turned in for the night or were gathered around the campfire. Hinata was staring into the campfire, idly listening to some of the stories that were being told. Every few minutes she would briefly activate her Byakugan to check on the other members of the team. Naruto and Tenten were out of her range, presumably to spend some time together in privacy. Hinata was about to return to normal vision when she frowned Quickly she ran a head count on the merchants and family present. She only counted nine heads, four short of what it should be. Quickly she noted who was missing and sighed. It was Muramasa Izumi and her three cohorts. By and large, the combined Team Gai had gotten on well enough with the merchants, but Izumi seemed to be one of those nosy busybodies that were constantly seeking the juiciest gossip and prying into everyone else's business.

Politely excusing herself from the fire she brushed her pants off and went in search of Naruto and Tenten. They came in range of her Byakugan soon after. She sighed again as she saw that the four women were harassing her teammates. Speeding up she landed next to Izumi a minute later.

"What is going on here Muramasa-san?" She asked in a mild tone, as if she didn't know exactly what was going on.

"Hyuuga-san!" Izumi exclaimed in surprise. "How fortunate you showed up just now. I believe you will want to hear what your husband and his _girlfriend_ were doing just now." The older woman put heavy emphasis on the word "girlfriend." She frowned slightly when she did not get the reaction she was hoping for.

"Maybe you will believe us now when Hinata-chan tells you the same thing that we told you." Izumi's eyes narrowed in what she thought was a menacing manner.

"You were caught cheating on your poor wife with one of your teammates and you have the nerve to call her Hinata-chan?"

"Muramasa-san, I would ask you to be silent." Hinata waited a moment until she was sure that Izumi wouldn't butt in. Slowly she met the eyes of every woman there. "I would request you not involve yourselves in affairs that are not your concern."

Izumi turned to face Hinata completely. "You poor dear. Why don't you come back with us and have a nice cup of hot chocolate. You can leave your husband to us. I promise you, he will come crawling back to you, begging for forgiveness." This was delivered as Izumi put a maternal arm around Hinata's shoulders, shooting Naruto and Tenten venomous glances where appropriate. Hinata smoothly ducked out from underneath Izumi's arm and turned to face her, back to Naruto and Tenten.

"You will do no such thing. I can handle my husband and his roving eye well enough alone." Izumi shot a triumphant smirk to Naruto and Tenten.

"Well then, if you are sure, I leave them to you. Remember, if you need any help, my door is always open." Smirking, she gestured to her cronies and departed.

"So you can 'handle me and my roving eye,' can you?"

"Oh be quiet Naruto-kun. It was obvious that she wasn't going to leave until she was satisfied that I had the situation in hand." She felt her cheeks warm slightly despite her words. "The nosy bitch."

OoOoO

After the incident in the woods Izumi and company left Naruto, Hinata and Tenten alone. Eight days after departing Otafuku Gai the caravan arrived in the trade town of Grass City in the early evening. Grass City was a middling town with a population of about thirty thousand. Grass was a central nation, bordered by four countries, two of them counted among the Great Elementals. Grass City took full advantage of this. It was situated on no less than six major trade routes, and as a result became one of the most important trade hubs in the known world.

Shinji led the merchants and their guard to an inn near the center of town named the Wildfire Inn. It was a sprawling three-story building with a vibrantly red tiled roof. The first floor was constructed of river rock, with the overhanging second and third stories whitewashed thatch. There were several dozen chimneys' sticking up from various points of the building. The wagons were circled in the large yard as Shinji, Anko and Naruto entered the building. The room they entered was large about fifty paces long and twenty wide, about forty trestle tables and benches occupying the greatest portion of the space. There were three large fireplaces, one on each outside wall, constructed of the same river stones that the walls were made of. To the right of the door was a staircase and another door. On the opposite wall that the exterior door was on, roughly in the center, was a small dais, probably for performers.

There were about ten or fifteen men and women scattered around the room eating. A short, fat, balding, greying man approached the trio as soon as they entered the building. "Shinji-san! What a pleasure to see you again! It has been a long six months my friend."

"Indeed it has Yakumo-san," Shinji replied, shaking the fat man's had and smiling warmly. "You seem to be doing well as ever," he continued, gesturing to the other man's girth.

"Business has been good," Yakumo replied. But before he had a chance to say anything further, he was interrupted by a woman that passed through other door that if Naruto's nose smelled correctly was the kitchen. She advanced on the two men, wiping her hands on her white apron. She was slender and taller than Yakumo, maybe a couple inches taller than Anko. She had a matronly face, smile lines at the corners of her eyes and mouth combined with her wrist thick braid of greying hair that extended to her waist giving her a kindly appearance.

"Shinji-san, aren't you going to introduce your companions?"

"Oh, please forgive me Tamaki-chan. These are three ninja from a company that I hired to escort the caravan. This is Mitarashi Anko and her son Hyuuga Naruto."

"A pleasure to meet you. I am Samsara Tamaki and this is my husband, Yakumo. My husband and I are the owners of the Wildfire Inn. We are honored to accommodate such esteemed guests in our inn." Anko just nodded calmly, accepting the accolades without protest. Just then the rest of the caravan entered the large common rooms, most carrying some kind of luggage on them. Marin turned and addressed someone in the kitchen. A moment later five girls emerged, all wiping floury hands on white aprons. The group was split up, each of the five girls and Tamaki guiding the merchants to their rooms.

"Hello Shinobi-sama," one of the girls addressed Naruto and Hinata. "My name is Aoi. If you will be so kind as to follow me, I will show you to your rooms."

The pair did so, and were back down in the common room five minutes later after inspecting their rooms. Most of the merchants were already back also and seated, either ordering dinner or awaiting their food. Naruto and Hinata saw that Anko and Gai had already arrived and moved to join them at their table. The pair had barely sat down before they were joined by the rest of the ninja. Aoi advanced on the seated ninja, pen and pad in hand to take their orders for dinner. Naruto recognized very little of the menu that she recited.

"What would you recommend Aoi-chan?"

"My mother is famous for her spice soup and gilded fish."

"Hm... Why don't you get me half a dozen servings of each then?"

"Er... Are you sure that you can eat that much?"

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing."

"Okay then." Most of the kitchen staff and other patrons of the inn watched in amazement as Naruto proceeded to devour everything that was set in front of him. Shinji stared on in horror as he could see his bill accumulate with each successive serving Naruto consumed. Eventually Anko took mercy on the man's wallet and tapped Naruto on the shoulder.

"Naruto, why don't you stop eating now. The client is paying for everything that we eat here, and it would not be nice if he had to spend all the money that he made here on your eating."

Naruto nodded and politely turned down the next dish of the soup that Aoi brought out, saying that he was full.

OoOoO

Hinata was currently hopping from roof to roof, moving aimlessly, changing direction when the buildings started to get spaced farther apart a week after arriving in Grass City. It was only a little after seven, yet the sun was almost completely set, the nearly full moon establishing its dominance in the sky. The streets were fairly empty, most people still eating dinner, so even though she didn't have her Byakugan activated, she immediately noticed the young girl racing down the street, maybe ten or so, flitting from moon shadow to moon shadow, as if she were trying to avoid the attention of someone. Curiosity piqued, Hinata concentrated, trying to spot the young girl that had caught her attention as she had lost her in the shadows. She found her several streets away, staggering away, panting heavily. Descending from the roofs, she landed in front of the girl, blocking her escape. "Excuse me, little girl, but are you in trouble?"

Hinata revised her opinion of the girl now that she got a good look at her. Her original estimate of her age seemed about right. The girl was wearing a pair of green corduroy overalls, a thin floral print cotton shirt under the overalls. The girl had dark red hair done in stiff pigtails and hazel eyes. Two things was struck Hinata most significantly, one that there was a hexagonal steel plate with a chain-link chain hanging from it and the heart-stopping terror that contorted her face, not horror movie-fear that is felt when one knows that one is still safe, but true and unadulterated terror, the kind of fear that most people would never experience if they lived to be one hundred. The girl's breathless cry of "help me!" was completely unnecessary.

Hinata's feet slid apart as she shifted into fighting mode, feet spread apart, Minazuki in its rapier form flying out of the scabbard with barely a whisper to settle into a high guard. "Who are you fleeing from?" Hinata asked over her shoulder, concentrating at the mouth of alley.

"I don't know," the girl replied, tears in her voice. "Something was chasing me! I don't know why, but I just ran. Can you beat it up?"

"Something? What did it look like?" But the girl was saved from having to answer by the arrival of the something. And 'something' was an oddly appropriate adjective for the thing. It was maybe ten feet tall, vaguely humanoid, as it had two arms, two legs and a head, but that was where the resemblances ended. Its body was a gross parody of the human form, its skin a sickly, mottled grey, joints reversed, possessing at least twice the number of fingers and toes that it should have. There was a large hole in the middle of its chest and a bone-colored mask hid its face. The mask was just as grotesque as the rest of the thing, its nose and ears oversized and misshapen, most closely resembling a young child's attempt at replicating a human face with clay. The teeth of the mask differed in size, and were all crooked, to the point that Hinata wondered that it could even close its mouth.

"Run!" Hinata shouted, lunging forward in an effort to distract the monster from the young child. The creature threw up its right hand to block her attack, getting a deep gash diagonally across its palm. The creature withdrew its wounded hand and let out a deafening roar of pain before going on the offensive. Hinata rapidly retreated out of the alley and into the street where she had originally spied the girl. Twirling to avoid a heavy vertical slap that would have rendered her to paste, her momentum was abruptly halted by the hand that had gripped the back of her jacket. Lifting her up with one arm the monster covered her face with its uninjured left hand. When it removed its hand, the grotesque mask had been replaced by a far more attractive one. The thing had changed its mask to look exactly like her face. Hinata was not given much of a chance to digest that as blood started flowing from her right palm.

Slashing at the already wounded right arm that was holding her up in an awkward upward cut, she severed the tendons in the wrist, forcing the monster to drop her. But her small victory was short lived as her sword dropped from her senseless right hand. Rolling to recover her weapon, she quickly pressed her left hand to her slashed right wrist. Taking a calculated risk, she glanced down to her palm to examine the damage. The cut was deep, nicking bone, exactly like the wound she had inflicted on the monster. Somehow, by changing its mask, it was able to make her take any wound it suffered too. Murmuring the command phrase, her sword shifted into the skintight black gauntlet that was her shikai. Minazuki was able to staunch the blood flow so that she was not in any immediate danger of bleeding out, but the use of her weapon was severely limited. Falling back on her family's techniques, she set herself into the most advanced Jyuuken stance she knew, which was admittedly not terribly advanced.

Ducking and dodging for all she was worth, she quickly discovered that the creature seemed to lack both chakra and internal organs, as none of her one handed Jyuuken strikes were doing anything to hamper the creature's assault. Ducking and twirling around a knife hand thrust, Hinata lashed out with an instinctive side kick that forced the creature's knee to bend perpendicular to the direction it was made to move. Both combatants dropped to their knees as the monster's weird power damaged her knee also. The unexpected pain stunned her long enough to let the creature fling its right arm out and catch Hinata in a back handed slap. She was further stunned when she landed a good twenty feet away, the breath having been ripped from her lungs by the force of the blow. She rolled another ten feet or so, before she was able to gain enough control of her limbs to arrest her roll. She struggled to her feet as the monster slowly limped its way over to her. Judging from how badly it hurt to breathe, she thought she had broken her collarbone and at least one or two ribs, with a couple more probably fractured.

Setting herself as well as she could, Hinata took a calculated risk and resealed Minazuki into its sword form. Fortunately, the blood had coagulated enough that the twin wounds on her right hand were no longer bleeding at a life-threatening rate. Taking her sword in an awkward left-handed grip, she waited for the monster to attack. Using its superior reach, the creature grabbed Hinata about the neck despite her desperate lunge to avoid it. Drawing its arm back, she took her second flight of the night.

OoOoO

Naruto was sitting in the front row of tables arranged before the dais that the performers were situated on when all hell broke loose. One of the windows on the front wall, opposite the dais exploded and something vaguely human-sized came hurtling through the air to crash down on one of the tables. A moment later, a demonic roar sounded from outside the inn, presumably whatever had thrown the thing inside.

Naruto was on his feet immediately, as were the other six ninja, scrambling over panicking patrons to get to whatever had flown through the window. Naruto froze when he stood over the face-down body, unable to believe what he was seeing. Slowly, with incredible care, he rolled her over to look at Hinata's face. She was not looking good, with a long gash over her left eye, sheeting that entire side in blood. No, no, this _could not_ be happening! Not to one of his loved ones, not before she knew that he loved her. This was not _fair_. This was not _right. _

"Hinata-chan, you okay?" He snaked his arms under her body, one under her shoulders and the other over her stomach.

"It is a monster, Naruto-kun. Don't hurt it," she gasped, face contorted in pain. Naruto scrunched his face up in confusion at the apparent effort it took her to speak. Sending his gaze downwards, his breath caught in his throat. There were two pieces of wood, maybe as thick as his thumb, sticking out of her chest and collarbone. Whatever she said next he did not hear as a loud rushing noise filled his ears, vision filming over red. Distantly he knew of the changes that were overtaking his body.

Setting Hinata dawn again gently, he looked out the window as he heard another roar sound outside. Not hesitating, he crouched down and rocketed out of the inn through the window that Hinata had come in, ignoring Anko's command to stay where he was. He took in the thing's appearance in a single sweep of his gaze, barely reacting. Clenching his empty hands, he growled when he saw that the thing wore Hinata's face. Leaping forward, Kitsune whisked out of the scabbard, bisecting the head. The body toppled forward, crashing to the ground, already starting to dissolve.

Turning to reenter the inn, he barely noticed the shards of glass cutting into his hands as he vaulted back inside through the broken window. He floated over to where Hinata lay in the broken remains of the table she had landed on. Ino and Anko were all kneeling over Hinata, quickly working to repair what damage she had suffered while Tenten had drawn both of her largest pistols and were pointing them out the window. Hinata's jacket lay to one side, showing the tight black sports bra she wore under her ninja mesh. He blanched, seeing the two holes in her chest and the dent in her side from some obviously broken ribs.

Ino was kneeling over Hinata applying first aid. Two thick gauze pads were put on the two puncture wounds after being cleaned, followed by a roll of bandaged being wound around her torso. Ino followed Neji and Lee as they carried the unconscious woman up to her room to rest. Naruto started after them, but Gai's hand on his shoulder prevented him from doing so.

"Hold on Naruto-kun, I have a few questions for you before you can see your teammate." Naruto glared at the abnormally serious man, but dropped it after a few seconds, turning to face him. "First of all, are you okay Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah, I was able to off the thing pretty quickly. It didn't even touch me."

"That is good. You said 'thing,' can you clarify what you mean by that?"

"Just go look at the body." Nodding, Gai led the group outside to where the creature had fallen. But the headless corpse that Naruto created was no longer there, no sign that it ever was.

"I don't see the body. Are you sure you killed it?"

"I blew up its head, so yeah. I am sure."

"What did the thing look like?"

"It would be impossible to miss. It was about ten or twelve feet tall, with reversed joints and a mask that looked like Hinata over its face."

Alright, we have to find this thing now, before it hurts anyone else. If it could wound Hinata-chan so badly, it will make mincemeat of a civilian. Anko-san, Tenten-chan, take the east and north parts of the town. Naruto and I will cover the south and east. If you find the thing, do not engage. Radio in and track it until we get there."

Anko and Tenten nodded, but Naruto clenched his fists and got a muley look on his face. "Naruto-kun, I understand your worry about your teammate, but she is safe for the moment and in good hands. Meanwhile, there are civilians out there completely unaware of the threat. If this thing is as strong as we might think, the best way to keep Hinata-chan safe is to eliminate the threat now."

"I know, but she is my wife. I am supposed to protect her. I don't like seeing her in pain."

"Well, let us hunt down this creature and kill it, so we know that the thing cannot harm anyone else." Grudgingly, Naruto acquiesced, and the two groups split up. But despite spending several hours combing the town, neither pair caught hide or hair of the beast. The moon had risen and was well on its way to the zenith of its nightly passage before Gai called off the search.

Naruto was up the stairs and in Hinata's room while Gai spoke to the innkeeper. Neji and Lee were not present, but Ino had pulled up a chair and was keeping watch over the sleeping Hinata.

"Hello Ino-san. How is she?"

"Eh, I am not too sure. I am no medic-nin, so she will need to see a healer as soon as possible though. I applied basic first aid, bandaging the two puncture wounds in her chest and wrapping her ribs, but it is not a sure fix. I gave her some painkillers, but those will not last long. She will be somewhat mobile, but nowhere near fighting condition when she wakes."

"I see. Could I have some time alone with her?"

"Sure, but try not to wake her. She need as much rest as she can manage."

Hinata heard Ino get up from her seat and exit the room, Naruto occupying the chair and dragging it to her bedside. She remained motionless, feigning sleep. The painkillers Ino had given her were doing their thing, and Hinata barely reacted when she felt Naruto's breath on her face.

"I know you can't hear me, but I need to you to know something. She was caught totally unaware when Naruto leaned over her, stabilizing himself by placing his hands on the edge of the bed. Her thought processes were completely halted as Naruto's face neared her. When his lips contacted hers, it was as if she was stuck by a bolt of lightning. _'HE'S KISSING ME! Naruto-kun is KISSING ME!'_ His lips were so soft, tongue as incredibly pebbly as it brushed across her lips. Her hands rose to his shoulders of their own accord, squeezing them, before shoving him away back into his chair. W-what was t-that?" Hinata's eyes were bugging out, breaths coming in ragged gasps, from the pain in her chest or the burning of her lips she was not sure.

"I was kissing you, Hinata-chan."

"I k-know that! W-why were you k-k-kissing me? I thought you l-loved Tenten?"

"I do love her, Hinata-chan." He slowly leaned forward, closing the distance between them that little bit. "But over the last couple of months, I have come to realize that I love you too."

"What?" she croaked.

"I love you Hinata-chan, and I love Tenten-chan." He leaned forward a bit more.

"Y-y-you l-love b-both of u-us?" she stuttered as he leaned lower yet again.

"Yes. You are one of the most beautiful, strongest, kindest, gentlest people I know. I would have to be a fool not to love you Hinata-chan." With that, he took one final bow and she was inside his arms again. This time it was all she could do to remain conscious as she almost literally melted in his arms. He pulled her close with an arm around her waist and shoulders and held her close to him.

Hinata could feel a rapid thumping against, but she could not tell whether it was her heart or his. Her body molded to his in the most perfect fashion, as if they were two halves of the same being, and was only now complete. Random thoughts sparked in her mind and her eyes fluttered so close to his. Her muscles were replaced with jelly and twitched randomly as Naruto kissed her within an inch of her life.

The sun rose and fell, mountains rose and were worn away, oceans surged and retreated. An eon later, Naruto released her, and she collapsed back into the bed that she had been placed in in a previous lifetime. "That-that-that-that..."

"That was a kiss."

"You kissed me..." she repeated yet again.

"Yes I did." He leaned in and gave her a peck on the lips. "And I just did it again." he repeated the motion again. "And again, and again," he repeated as he showered her with pecks. "Better get used to it, because I will be doing it a lot more often. By this time, Hinata was blushing full steam, as she used to before being assigned to Team Nine. At the thought of kissing Naruto every day, her brain went into critical meltdown and that was all she knew. Naruto caught her, and gave her one last peck on the lips. "Maybe I overdid it," he muttered as he released his blacked out bride into the warm embrace of her bed.

OoOoO

It took Hinata a moment to recognize where she was. Naruto's admission and his kisses all came flooding back. Instantly her cheeks flamed scarlet. "Yeah, I used to do that too." Hinata "eep"ed and sat up quickly before flopping back as her wounds lit up in pain. Tenten was sitting on the chair that Ino and Naruto had previously occupied backwards, facing Hinata, one of her rifles at her side, being cleaned.

"He didn't use to be, but Naruto-kun is a great kisser." At Hinata's panicked expression she continued. "Don't worry. Naruto-kun told me everything."

"Everything?"

"Yeah. He told me that he had fallen in love with you also. It took me a while but I realized that I want Naruto-kun to be happy. And he would never be truly content without being able to have you."

"And what about you?"

"He still loves be, it is just that I am not the only woman he loves."

"And what about us?"

Tenten sighed. I do not see why we still can't be friends. At least I hope we can. It is just our bad luck that we both fell in love with the same man."

Both girls were silent for a few long minutes. "About the rules that I gave you when you first married Naruto-kun, forget them. I was distraught and overly emotional at the time and was not thinking that clearly. Truthfully, I had no right to impose any rules on you at all."

"Don't worry," Hinata muttered. "It's okay."

Tenten shook her head. "No it wasn't. I was being a bitch to you when you did nothing to deserve it."

"Well, then, I forgive you if you are that adamant that you were in the wrong."

"Thank you." Tenten and Hinata were silent, neither really knowing what to say.

"So how long was I out?" Hinata asked eventually.

"Only a day. Anko talked to the innkeeper and he said he knew of an herb woman who could help you. The lady made some poultices and stuff to help you heal faster. She said that she was no substitute for a real doctor or medic-nin, but she prevented your wounds from becoming infected and suppurating."

"I see," Hinata groaned, slowly sitting up, back resting against the headboard. "How is everyone else doing?"

Tenten rolled her eyes. Just like Hinata to ask after everyone else almost as soon as she regained consciousness. "Completely unharmed. Naruto-kun said he killed the monster, but we never found any trace of it, dead or alive." Hinata nodded absently to this. As she did, her stomach gurgled loudly. Whatever Hinata was about to say was forgotten ash she turned a respectable shade of crimson. Tenten giggled. "C'mon Hinata-chan. Let us go see if we can't find you some grub." Hinata was too embarrassed to reply with anything other than a quick nod.

The two women slowly made their way down to the common room, giving Hinata plenty of time to accustomate herself to the stress movement put on her injuries. The two punctures were two glowing embers, and her broken and fractured ribs were tight rubber bands constricting her chest. Fortunately the common room was occupied by less than a dozen patrons, being the middle of the day, so Hinata was able to eat in peace. After she had eaten her fill, she returned to her room. As she was sitting back down on the edge of her bed, something occurred to her, something that she couldn't believe that she had missed, no matter how out of it she was supposed to be.

"Tenten-san, where is Minazuki?" Looking around her small room, she could not see her sword/spirit companion.

"Ah, unfortunately, you must have dropped it at some point during you fight. Everyone looked, but we couldn't find it."

"Wh-what? What do you me-mean?"

"Sorry Hinata-chan, but we had everyone scouring the nearby area, but no one claims to have found Minazuki." Hinata sat back, strangely numb. She, Naruto and Tenten had been the first and only people to ever manifest the power that they had displayed, so there was no one she could go to to talk about this. Ever since the mission to Kiri, Minazuki had been a friend and confidante with which she held nothing back from. She had never said anything of the sort to another person, but much of her recent gain in confidence and self-esteem had been because of Minazuki. Closing her eyes, she retreated into her inner world, where the spirit resided. But no matter how loud she shouted, no matter how far she ran, Minazuki never appeared. Reluctantly she reentered the real world, a previously almost unnoticeable emptiness opening up. It was like she would turn to speak to a person standing next to her, only to realize there was nobody there. It was an extremely discomfiting feeling, one that would not be banished, no matter what the others tried. Even Naruto was unable to banish the emptiness, and he tried his damnedest to do so.

Hinata gradually acclimated to the emptiness by virtue of continual exposure. Everyone kept looking at her oddly, as if they expected her to break down sobbing any minute. But she didn't, and so the glances askance eventually stopped. So she was glad when the contract ended and everyone returned home to Konoha. Of course, she still got odd looks, mostly from the people who were most closely associated with her and her team, as she had never been seen without her rapier once she found it. Still, it wasn't that bad, until her father confronted her about it.


	14. Shinigami Once Again

**Chapter Fourteen: Shinigami Once Again**

The mission debriefing had concluded a while ago, where Sarutobi had immediately ordered Hinata to report to the hospital for a checkup. She was already well on her way to a complete recovery, but the Sandaime was not one to risk the health of one of his ninja needlessly. So despite the fact that Hinata's wounds were doing fine, she was still subjected to a complete physical as well as a psychiatric examination. Anko, Naruto and Tenten had left the hospital a short while ago, so she was surprised to see her father walk in through the door to her room. She froze for a moment, her right arm held above her head, as she was stretching, trying to work a kink out of her muscles. She lowered her arm and directed her eyes to the floor.

"So I hear that you were wounded during your most recent mission. What happened?"

Hinata peeked at her father through her eyelashes in mild surprise. While the words were direct and abrupt, per his usual manner with her, the tone was, well not kind precisely, but not that of the relentless taskmaster that she had known virtually all her life. She relayed the events of the past month succinctly, leaving out some of the more personal revelations. Hiashi frowned slightly at the news that her sword had been lost, and by association her powers.

"And you say nothing was found of your sword? It just vanished when that monster threw you through the wall of the inn?"

"Correct Father. Not even a shard of the blade was recovered."

"And it was only after you were thrown through the window and injured that it went missing."

"Correct."

"Lift up your shirt. Let me see the wounds." Hinata did as ordered, fidgeting slightly when Hiashi pulled the strap of her sports bra down to uncover the first puncture wound. The doctors had already repaired the damage as best they could, so there was just a faint pucker and discoloring to mark where it had been. Examining the twin punctures with his Byakugan, he frowned. "Well, they did not hit anything physically significant, but given how little we understand your powers, there might be something more to them." Hiashi took a step back and allowed Hinata to put her shirt back on. "The strangest thing is that you say you have not been able to communicate with the spirit of your sword or access that power since the actual sword disappeared?"

"Correct. I have meditated on it and have not been able to return to my soul plain, where I met Minazuki every time I wanted to speak to her before." Now, Hinata was normally quiet and subdued while in her father's presence, but that had been changing some recently. As a consequence, he had begun doling out little bits of praise here and there. But to suddenly see Hinata become so introverted so rapidly again was disturbing. Hiashi continued to question his eldest daughter for a few minutes longer, but Hinata had apparently exhausted her verbosity. While she did not retreat into monosyllables, her answers became shorter and briefer. Finally ending the interview, he left his daughter to her rest.

OoOoO

Kisuke Urahara nodded politely to the nurses and doctors he passed by on the way to Hinata's room. Now, unlicensed Shinigami were rarer than rare. In fact, he had only heard of two or three unlicensed Shinigami ever, and known one, so three popping up at the same time was a surprise to say the least. So that was why he had been keeping a close eye on Team Nine. Were circumstances different between him and the old man, he might have reported their existence to Seireitei . But as it were, he didn't. At least not yet. Checking the number on the door in front of him against a piece of paper, he nodded to himself and let himself in.

Hinata, still clad in her hospital gown did not notice the interloper at first, to busy with her own thoughts. She jumped slightly from where she was sitting against the headboard of her bed, hands wrapped around her knees and leaned up into a crouch. Her stance faltered slightly when she saw Urahara raise his hands palms out, showing that he was carrying no weapon.

"Sorry to intrude young lady, but would you happen to be Hyuuga Hinata?"

"Y-yes, I am she," Hinata replied hesitantly.

"Ah, that is good then. My name is Urahara Kisuke, and I am here to help you regain your Shinigami powers."

"Shinigami powers?" Hinata repeated.

"Yes. You see, I have been keeping tabs on you and your two teammates for quite a while now because you and your two teammates have done something that has only happened once in the last five hundred-odd years. That is to become living shinigami."

"Living shinigami?"

"Yes. If you would be so kind as to follow me, I am sure that I can answer all your questions to your satisfaction."

"How do I know that you are genuine? There have been attempts to kidnap me before."

"Well, I have no proof that I am telling the truth, so you are just going to have to trust me. Come with me, and I can give you the chance, no more, to reunite with you fighting soul."

Hinata dropped all semblance of a fighting stance at those words. She would do anything to be able to speak to the manifestation of her soul again. Besides, her instincts told her that she could trust this man. "All right. Let me change and we can leave."

Kisuke nodded and turned his back to provide the young woman some privacy to change. Once she did so, Kisuke opened the window to her room and jumped out.

OoOoO

"Hello Hyuuga-sama. How are we feeling now? Have your ribs stopped aching at all?"

Inoue Orihime, one of the best nurses at Konoha Shinobi General Hospital just sighed at the empty bed. Honestly, they needed bars on the windows or something. Sticking her head out the door she yelled down the hall, "Doctor! We have another patient break out!"

OoOoO

Once Hinata had begun the process of Hollowification, Urahara left the underground training area, instructing Tessai, Jinta and Ururu to keep an especially close eye on Hinata while he was out. After asking around for a while, he was able to find out where Mitarashi Anko lived. Approaching the house, he steeled himself for the confrontation to come. Anko answered pretty quickly, surprise showing when she saw her guest.

"Urahara-san, I didn't know you knew where I lived."

"I am full of surprises Anko-san. But my visit here is not for pleasure."

"Really? Why don't you come in?"

"Sorry I can't. I just dropped by to let you know that I have taken your daughter-in-law for some extremely specialized training. I assure you that she is okay for the moment, but will be gone for the next two or three days."

"Wait, what? Where is she? I want to see what kind of training you are giving her."

"I rally am sorry, but I can't tell you that. The training she is undergoing is hazardous and you could be hurt if you watched."

"Urahara-san, I am a tokubetsu jounin and one of the top assassins in Konoha. I am sure I can handle anything that Hinata is undergoing."

Urahara shook his head. "This was just a courtesy call, so you wouldn't worry about what had happened to Hinata-san. I will contact you when Hinata-san has finished her training." _'Or died,' _he completed mentally. "Good day." Touching the brim of his bucket hat, he inclined his head slightly towards her and vanished.

Urahara let out a breath he had been holding practically since he had approached the Mitarashi household. Former 12th Division Captain as he was, Mitarashi Anko was a _scary, scary _woman. Especially when her mother bear instincts had been aroused. Calming himself with several deep breaths, he steadied his legs and proceeded to return to his shop. His phone had not rung yet, so that was a good sign, as Tessai or Jinta would have certainly called had the young Hyuuga heiress succumbed to her inner Hollow yet. Nevertheless, he quickened his steps, hurrying back home.

OoOoO

**Later that afternoon**

Ayame was worried. She was very fond Naruto, as was her father. When she asked the conversation went something like this:

"Good afternoon Naruto-kun. Glad to see you back in town."

"Yeah, me too Ayame-chan," he replied tiredly.

His tone was enough to cause Ayame to do a double-take. Hearing him speak to her like that was a surprise. Naruto was one of the most cheerful people she knew, so seeing him depressed was a shock. That wasn't to say she had never seen him sad or angry or anything like that, (God knew that he had reason enough given some of the things that had happened to the boy) but to see him like that was a shock. Looking back to her father in the kitchen, he nodded at her unspoken sentiment. Setting a bowl of ramen down in front of him she leaned on the counter. "On the house," Ayame answered his nonverbal question. Nodding his appreciation, he took a couple half-hearted bites. Seeing Naruto only pick at a free bowl of ramen only cemented the thought that something was seriously wrong in her mind. She was sure she would have heard had any of his teammates died or grievously wounded on his last mission, so she didn't think that was it.

"Naruto-kun, what is wrong?"

"What do you mean Ayame-chan?" Naruto answered her question with one of his own, voice artificially cheerful.

"Naruto-kun, I just gave you a free bowl of ramen and you have barely touched it. So there is obviously something that is bothering you a lot."

Naruto was quiet, staring into his food for a minute or two. Then he sighed and looked up, and expression of misery on his face. "It's Hinata." Now _that _was a surprise. Just about everyone knew that Hinata had been crushing on Naruto for years now. So hearing that she had done something to put Naruto into such a funk caused Ayame to quirk an eyebrow.

"What did she do?" Ayame asked.

"It's nothing she did, it's something that happened to her."

"What do you mean?"

Naruto sighed and proceeded to lay out the events of the last two weeks briefly. "And now I can barely get her to talk to me. I mean, I have tried every thing I could think of to get her to just tell me what I can do, but she just brushes me off."

"Well, she may just need time to be by herself. The best thing you might be able to do for her is just give her some space. Who knows, she may be able to get over this all on her own."

"I dunno. It just feels like I am not doing enough to help her. I like her, and... oh I don't know." Naruto growled in frustration and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes.

"Well, sometimes there is nothing you can do but step back and let the other person work though their problems on their own."

"I guess," Naruto grunted. He spent the rest of the meal in sullen silence and then excused himself. Striding away, shoulders hunched and hands thrust deep in his pockets, he decided to go train some. Perhaps he would feel better once he had blown off some steam.

OoOoO

Hinata lay at the bottom of the shattered shaft breathing heavily after the most recent "corrasion". She was not sure how long she had been down at the bottom of the hole, but she estimated somewhere between thirty four and thirty six hours. Tessai had bound her arms, and Urahara had ordered her to regain her Shinigami powers and escape from the shaft... or die. The first thing she thought to try was simply walking up the wall with chakra. But something had been done to the shaft so that she fell back down to the bottom after only a handful of steps.

Hinata was just beginning to recover and had pushed herself to her feet with an angry determination. '_I cannot die down here! Naruto loves me! I must return to him." _She had begun chanting 'Naruto loves me' over and over in her head when the final "corrasion" overcame her. She had thought that the previous "coraccion" were painful, but this one, this one was of a magnitude greater. Hinata barely had time to register the last piece of her Chain of Fate falling away to reveal a Hollow hole and some white material flowing out of her orifices to over her face when she passed out.

OoOo

It seemed that barely a handful of seconds had passed before she awoke again. Sitting up, she exhaled in relief. She was back in her soul plain. Gaining her feet, she turned in place and surveyed her surroundings. "Minazuki! Minazuki" Hinata yelled. But there was no response. Growing worried, Hinata called again.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here, don't get yer panties in a bunch." Hinata whirled, half-hopeful, but slightly confused because it was not the ethereal, almost detached voice she knew was Minazuki's, but hers, albeit harsher, throatier, rougher. Her voice froze in her throat as she faced the other person.

"You are not Minazuki," Hinata shot back after a moment.

Her reversed-color double smirked. "Sure I am."

"What did you do with Minazuki?"

"What do you mean 'what did I do with Minazuki?' Isn't that Minazuki there?" her double asked, pointing at her hip. Gasping in surprise, Hinata's hands flew to her hip, quickly withdrawing the familiar rapier from the scabbard. Shocked as she was she almost missed the other-Hinata's next question. "Or is _this_ Minazuki?" As she said this, _she _drew an exact replica of Minazuki, other than having the colors reversed.

"W-w-what do you mean?" Hinata protested.

"God no wonder your father thinks you are a failure. Let me say it again. I. Am. Minazuki." Hinata was calling on all her skill to fend off the other Hinata, and even so, she was being beaten back. "Here, let me put it in little words for you. Minazuki and I are the same being. We both are the source of your power. Appearance shifts with whoever is in the superior position at the time. So when I say I am Minazuki, I mean I am Minazuki. Defeat me and maybe you can see my other half again."

Now, until relatively recently, most people would have described Hinata as a pushover, a doormat or spineless. But when it was someone she loved who was on the line, she was everything but spineless, as Hollow-Hinata was about to find out. Hinata met Hollow-Hinata's charge and stopped it cold. Breaking the lock, Hinata let her inner Hollow slide past, drawing a line of blood across the Hollow's ribs when it passed by.

"ALRIGHT! Now that is more like it!" Hinata set her mouth in a thin line and readied herself to receive the other Hinata's attack.

OoOoO

**Meanwhile, in the real world**

At the bottom of the Shattered Shaft, Tessai had his hands full. He had already applied the first part of Bakudo #99, and that was barely holding the seemingly slight girl in check. "Urahara-san, the seals are fraying! I can barely hold Hinata-san back. I must switch to the second part now!"

Urahara said nothing, but watched as Hinata was wrenched to the ground by spirit fabric, then anchored by thin metal spikes to her flesh. After a moment Tessai initiated the final part, summoning a gigantic metal cube that would kill Hinata. The cube hurtled downwards and impacted the bottom of the shaft with a resounding boom. But the impact was obscured by a large dust cloud thrown up outside the hole. After the dust cloud dissipated, a masked Hinata stood before them. As Ururu and Jinta slid into combat stances the Hollowfied Hinata struggled to remove the oval mask attached to her face.

Her mask was actually rather plain but somewhat unsettling nonetheless. The eyeslits were stretched horizontally with the inside ends narrowing to a downward point, with the outside ends pointing up. Under the eyeslits were four horizontal red streaks outlined in thin black lines that split into two halfway to the reverse edge of the mask, Above the eyeslits, between where her brows would be was a single streak that also split in two halfway to the top edge, outlined in black. The fact that the mask was completely smooth, and except for the eyeslits, unbroken, no nose, noseslits or an opening over the mouth that gave the mask its creepy-factor. Finally managing to wrench the seemingly delicate white material off, Hinata glared at the "mere handsome and sexy shopkeeper" who had nearly had her killed.

"You bastard," she grunted before she faceplanted. Tessai hauled himself over the edge of the hole sporting a red handprint and cracked glasses. "Tessai!" Urahara exclaimed brightly. "Come get the girl. Let's let her recover in the guest room before we call the rest of her team." Tessai nodded, slinging the unconscious girl over a shoulder and began the prodigious climb out of the massive underground secret training area.

OoOoO

It had been a long day for Naruto. Anko had taken Naruto and Tenten to one of the training grounds and then ran them to the ground. Naruto had been worrying far too much about Hinata since Urahara had taken her, so seeing that he was exhausted but not having released any of his tension, the three of them trudged back to the hospital to go check up on Hinata again. But she was still not in her room when the trio arrived, the doctors being thoroughly unhelpful. They seemed to be of the opinion that they couldn't be held responsible for patients that ran off when they were supposed to be resting. Anko led the two teens back to her house to get wasted, a miserable end to an extremely unproductive and wearying day. Unfortunately for Naruto, he couldn't manage to maintain a buzz for longer than a few minutes while the two women drank themselves into a stupor.

So here he was, lying in his bed, not tired and unable to fall asleep. Even the sight of something flying in through his open window and splattering on the opposite wall wasn't that rousing. But he did sit up and look. There was a message written in a red liquid on the wall where the thing had impacted. It said _Urgent, come to the Urahara shop immediately"_ A few seconds later, where he would have been freaking out if he was not a shinobi a second message was splashed on his wall. _P.S.: If you're thinking that this message is written in the victim's own blood like some cliche from a TV show... then you have no sense of humor._

Rising from the futon, though a combination of verbal (on Tenten) and physical (on Anko) persuasion, Naruto managed to rouse his two female teammates and lead the way to Urahara's store. Hinata blushed when he flew in through the open doorway and seized her in a bear hug. "I missed you too Naruto-kun." Naruto grinned at her blush. Hinata had been so unresponsive recently that seeing her blush was a godsend. He held her for a few moments before turning to face Urahara.

"Okay, we are all here, mot of us are sober, so spill. What were you doing with Hinata for the last two days?"

"That is a simple question with a complicated answer. I promise that I will answer your question soon enough, so please be patient with me." Waiting for everyone to nod, he continued. Before I can answer your original question, I must tell you about other things first for the answer to your question to make sense. Simply put, you three have become shinigami. Ah ah, let me finish before asking any questions. I will answer most of them before I am done." Naruto and Anko both lowered their hands. "Now, you are wondering what I mean by saying that you are each shinigami. Well, there are actually hundreds of shinigami in existence, rather than one omniscient being. The weapons you wield are called zanpakuto, the physical manifestation of souls. Zanpakuto are unique to a single shinigami. There are three states that a zanpakuto can achieve. First there is asauchi, or the sealed state, where it just looks like a normal sword most of the time, Shikai, which is enabled by learning the name of the zanpakuto and usually enables a special ability of some sort. Finally there is Bankai, which increases the shinigami's power by a factor of five to ten. And before you ask, I do not have the time to teach any of you Bankai, as it takes at least a hundred years to obtain.

"Even among normal shinigami, you three are unique. Usually it will take a person years, often at least a decade of training before he or she can learn their zanpakuto's name. I have never heard of anyone being able to learn the name of their zanpakuto right off the bat like you three have. Of all the different zanpakuto in existence, they can be boiled down to two basic categories, constant-release and sealed-type. Other than Naruto-kun, there is only one other person I know of that possesses a constant-release zanpakuto. Because Naruto-kun has such massive spirit power reserves, he cannot control his power well enough to seal it in a smaller form.

"Normally, a person has to die, then be escorted to Soul Society, or Heaven, followed by many years of training to become a shinigami. But there are a few extremely rare individuals who are born with spirit power as well as chakra. Spirit power is to a dead person what chakra is to a living one.

"So, everyone is born with both chakra and spirit power, chakra usually overwhelming spirit power to a degree that it is impossible to detect. But very rarely, somewhere in the range of one in a billion or so, someone is born with a usable amount of spirit power. These people don't live long because chakra and spirit power negate one another. But within that one in a billion, there will sometimes be born a person whose chakra and spirit power do not negate each other, for unknown reasons. You are three such individuals. These rarer than rare people will lead normal lives unless they suffer a violent death, like the three of you did. When they do die violently, the spirit power, which has lain dormant up until this point, will awaken, transforming them into shinigami.

"There are two anatomical features to note on a shinigami. The first is the Chain of Fate. The Chain of Fate is the spiritual link between a spiritual being and it's physical body. While it is not visible on a Shinigami, most having no physical bodies, the location is still important. There is a second spot called the Soul Sleep, which is the source of a spirit's spirit power. Should these two spots be struck, a soul will lose all spirit power, forever losing the ability to become a shinigami. I have seen the report that was written up for the Hokage concerning Hinata's injuries. The creature that Hinata and Naruto fought was a Hollow, a spirit that has lingered in this world too long and become a monster, the antithesis of a shinigami. Only spiritually aware beings are able to see them, combined with the fact that slaying a Hollow with a zanpakuto destroys it and sends it to Soul Society was why nobody else was able to see it.

"When Hinata was injured by the Hollow, both her Chain of Fate and her Soul Sleep were pierced, which is why she was not able to use her zanpakuto afterwards, nor contact her zanpakuto. However, by putting her through a risky trial,by forcing her to either become Shinigami or Hollow, she proved that she had enough willpower to force herself to become a shinigami rather than a Hollow. Hence the sword at her side again. So, any questions?"

The four shinobi shook their heads in the negative, Urahara continued.

"Alright then, as it is late, I will let you go. But, I would like the three of you to return tomorrow for Shinigami training."

When the three genin showed up at Urahara's the next day, he lifted a tatami mat in the back to reveal a ladder leading down into a huge cavern. Once Tenten and Naruto had gotten over their shock, (Hinata, having already been here, was not surprised), Urahara entered lecture mode once more.

"So before we can begin your training in earnest, there are one or two things you must know to use the abilities that I am about it impart on you. There are three terms that are used to describe attributes of a Shinigami and the spiritual world. The first is spirit particles, the stuff that all spiritual matter is composed of. Second is spiritual power, the amount of spiritual energy a being has. Finally is spiritual pressure, the amount of spirit power that a being can exert on their environment.

"Now, the three abilities that I am going to teach you are basic spirit power control, spirit thread visualization and spirit particle manipulation.

The first exercise that Urahara set them to was learning to control their spiritual power, annoyingly similar in practice to learning to control chakra. So the three neophyte Shinigami spent hours a day, whenever they had free time, meditating, locating their Soul Sleep and learning to recognize what their spiritual power felt like. The only good thing that came of all the meditation he was doing was that Naruto was finally able to seal his zanpakuto away into the asauchi form. Now instead of hauling a five foot sword on his back, he was able to clip a short sword onto his waist. The blade was completely straight, double-edged. There was virtually no guard, consisting of a brass band about two fingers wide and a half-inch wider than the blade. The hilt was wrapped in brown leather, ridged and knobbed so it would not slip in his grip were his hands to become sweaty or bloody. A heavy ball of brass pommel balanced the sword. The whole thing was hung on an inch-wide baldric that crossed his chest.

After three days of this and satisfying Urahara by displaying their control, they moved onto spirit particle manipulation. Spirit particles, like most other spiritual concepts, had a counterpart in the living world in atoms. But unlike atoms, spirit particles could be gathered and controlled. The most basic application of this was the ability to consolidate spirit particles under a user's feet to provide an invisible platform in midair, combined with flash steps, giving Shinigami as close to flight as anyone was going to come. An extension of spirit particle manipulation was flash steps. Flash steps was performed by gathering a spirit particles around the legs, improving speed dozens of times over, not too unlike manipulating chakra to the feet to boost speed and jump distances, but far faster. This took another three days of practice before they moved onto the third and final lesson.

Spirit threads were manifested by spiritually magnetizing the spirit particles in the area, causing the spirit particles to make stray threads of spirit particles left behind by a spiritual being's passage to become visible. Ironically, this was probably the easiest technique for the trio to learn, collectively mastering the technique in only a couple of hours.

OoOoO

Seven days after Team Nine's return to Konoha, Sarutobi Hiruzen call a meeting of all the genin sensei in his office. "Well, as you probably already know, in one week, on the first day of the seventh month, I will announce the start of the biannual Chunin Selection Examinations. Now, will the sensei's of the newest genin, Kakashi-san, Asuma-kun, Anko-san, what do you say? Remember, in order to qualify for nomination a team must have successfully completed at least eight missions."

"The Kakashi-led Team 7, Haruno Sakura, Inuzuka Kiba, Uchiha Sasuke, under the name Hatake Kakashi, I nominate them to take the Chunin Selection Exam."

"The Anko-led Team 9, Higurashi Tenten, Hyuuga Hinata, Hyuuga Naruto, same as to my left."

The Asuma-led Team 10, Aburame Shino, Akamichi Choji, Nara Shikamaru, same as to my left."

Before anyone else could speak, Iruka leaped up from where he was seated to one side. "Hold on a second. Hokage-sama, please let me have a word." He waited until the Hokage nodded before continuing. "Please forgive me for speaking out-of-place if I am, but these nine, well, they were my students until very recently. Of course, they are all very talented, but it is too early for them to be taking the exam. Thy simply do not have enough experience to handle them. I respect the jounins positions as their sensei's, but I cannot fathom, their reasoning."

"I became a chunin six years younger than any of these genin," Kakashi stated mildly.

"These genin are different from you," Iruka shot back.

"I don't know about the others, but my genin are always complaining about the low level missions they are restricted to. Perhaps a dose of pain would be good for them."

"Having them feel some pain is one thing, but the Chunin Exams could crush them!" Iruka was really working himself into a fit over Kakashi's lackadaisical attitude.

"Besides, crushing them could prove to be entertaining." This threw Iruka into an apoplectic fit, making him splutter, trying to voice half a dozen objections at once. Kakashi let him hang for a few seconds before continuing. "Jeez, I was just kidding Iruka-sensei. Your concern is understandable, but you are out of line. These genin ceased being your students a long time ago. Right now, they are my soldiers, and as their commander, it is my right to do anything I want with them."

The room was completely silent, the argument between chunin and jounin having killed any sense of joviality in the room. The rest of the jounin-senseis proceeded to state whether or not the had decided to enter their teams into the Exam or not. Iruka had sat back down in his chair and was glaring sullenly at Kakashi's back, knowing, despite the other man's words that there was no way that his most recent batch of students were ready for the tests.

OoOoO

**Meanwhile, elsewhere in the village,**

Naruto, Tenten and Hinata had met up with Anko in their usual spot earlier that morning to train, but Anko gave them the day off, claiming that there was a meeting being held in the Hokage's Tower for all jounin. Naruto had created a shadow clone so that he could walk with an arm around the waist of both his women and give them individual attention. They noticed immediately when a poorly patterned square "rock" with eye holes cut into it began stalking them. Naruto let the "rock" follow them for a couple of block before addressing it. They had rounded a corner, waiting just out of sight so that when the "rock" came around the corner also, it bumped into his legs, dispersing the disguise by virtue of knocking the box off the trio and setting the three kids under it back on their butts.

"Ah, Boss, I knew we couldn't fool you!" Sarutobi Konohamaru exclaimed, pointing at the closer Naruto. After a moment, Konohamaru seemed to realize that there were two Bosses causing a confused expression to come over him. Expression lighting up, he tugged Naruto down to his level to stage-whisper at him. "Hey Boss, are they your, you know..." simultaneously pointing at Hinata, who still had her Naruto's arm possessively around her waist, and wiggling his pinkie finger in a suggestive manner. Hinata being Hinata, blushed slightly at the things the little boy was implying.

"Oh, yeah. This is Hinata, my wife."

"Your wife! Then who is she?" Konohamaru asked, pointing this time at Tenten.

"This is Tenten, my girlfriend."

"Whoa, Boss, you have a wife _and _a girlfriend! You're awesome!"

"Yeah, I guess I kinda am," Naruto responded, preening slightly under Konohamaru's obvious awe.

"Anyways, why were you following us, Konohamaru-kun," Tenten interrupted.

"Oh, we wanted to see if Boss would come play ninja with us today."

"Play ninja?" Sakura sniggered, coming into earshot.

"What kind of ninja _plays _ninja," Kiba continued.

At the two Team Seven genin's approach, Tenten and Hinata drew closer to the real Naruto, preparing to retaliate at the first blow.

"Yo Boss, isn't that the girl you used to like, the one with the huge forehead and weird colored hair?" Sakura was struck momentarily speechless, surprised by the boldness that the kid had just thrown that out there. "I can totally see why you don't like her anymore," Konohamaru continued. "After all, she barely has any breasts at all."

"Hey, who the hell are you kids?" Sakura demanded.

"I am Sarutobi Konohamaru, the Number One Ninja in the village!"

"I am Akimichi Moegi, the sexiest kunoichi of our class!"

"I am Utatane Udon, the smartest ninja in all of Konoha!"

"Together," the three shouted in unison, "we are the Konohamaru Corps!"

The silence stretched for a few seconds, everyone needing the time to absorb the ridiculous super-sentai poses the three students had struck, as well as the absurdity of their entire introduction.

Noticing the less than stellar response their introduction had produced, Konohamaru apparently decided that it was Sakura's fault. Pulling down his eyelid and sticking out his tongue staged a hasty retreat when Sakura started shaking a fist at them. Sakura immediately gave pursuit, determined to teach the brat some manners. Naruto seeing Sakura chasing the three kids followed hot on her heels, with everyone else following closely behind.

So that was why he considered it a minor miracle they didn't all end up in one big heap when Konohamaru plowed straight into a stranger. The other guy, dressed in a black bodysuit complete with a hood and cat ears picked Konohamaru up by the front of his shirt and sneered at the now-terrified boy.

"Hey, show some common courtesy and apologize when you hurt someone you little shit," the stranger growled. His companion, a blond girl carefully eyed the five Konoha genin arrayed against them, personal squabbles forgotten in the face of an outside threat.

"Hey, Kankuro-kun, watch it would ya?" she muttered.

Surprisingly, it was not Naruto or Kiba, the ones in the group known best for hotheadedness that addressed the other pair, but Sakura. "Hey, set the kid down now before you get in any trouble."

The guy holding Konohamaru, Kankuro, finally looked away from his prisoner and seemed to realize that there were other people there. He took in the arrayed genin with barely a blink, surprising since he was outnumbered quite badly. "Wow, Konoha-genin are weak if they need to team up five on two to win," he sneered.

Everyone by now had noted that the Kankuro and his companion were foreigners, from Suna by their hitai-aite, the significance lost on no one.

Konohamaru's strangled cries of "let me go," were ignored as Naruto challenged the other boy. "Let the kid go now you fat pig, or face the consequences." Naruto didn't gesticulate wildly or make any blatantly aggressive moves other than to place his right hand on the pommel of the little blade hanging off a brown leather baldric.

Kankuro narrowed his eyes slightly, noting that the pale-eyed girl flanking him had done the same thing while the darker one had drawn what appeared to be a scaled-down firearm that could be held in one hand. "Well, you see, I have a thing against midgets, particularly rude ones. Makes me want to kill them." That statement caused all the Konoha genin to tense, ready to switch to attack at the first act of violence directed to Konohamaru. As luck, (and perhaps something else,) would have it, a pebble struck the hand that Kankuro was using to hold Konohamaru, causing him to drop the boy who to the opportunity to scamper to safety. Anger etched on his features, Kankuro looked up to where the pebble had flown from, scowl deepening when he saw a smirking boy juggling two more pebbles in one hand.

"What the hell are you bastards doing in our village?" Saskuke asked.

Sakura and Moegi both squealed at the apparent "coolness" of Sasuke's challenge. Even the blond Suna-nin seemed to be checking the Uchiha out.

"Get your ass down here you punk," Kankuro fired back. "It's stupid showboats like you I hate most," he growled, simultaneously slinging the bandaged package off his back and holding it out at an angle by the top.

"Are you seriously going to use Karasu right now?" the foreign chick asked.

Yet another voice interrupted the burgeoning conflict, calling out in a near-monotone, " Stop it Kankuro, you are an embarrassment to our village."

"Oh come on Gaara," Kankuro addressed the upside down figure. "They started it."

"I don't care. Losing yourself in your emotions, how pathetic. We came here for a reason. Now shut up. Or I'll kill you." The Konoha genin were surprised by a number of things, first the stealth that he had approached with (_'that's Kakashi-level sneakiness,_' Sasuke thought), then by the utter casualness he uttered the death threat and the seriousness that Kankuro took it with, stammering apologies. "Sorry to you guys for his behavior, but we have arrived a bit early, and it wasn't to play around." The mysterious boy with the gourd was obviously the leader of the three, as the other two fell into step behind him as he walked away.

"Hey there, wait up!" Sakura called out again. "Despite the fact that our villages are allies, it is expressly forbidden for foreign shinobi to enter a village without permission. Depending on your stated reason, we may or may not let you go."

"Wow, talk about clueless," the girl chuckled. But she reached into a pocket and withdrew a passport, flipped it to a page in the middle and displayed a stamp stating that she at least was in Konoha legally. "We are here for the Chunin Selection Exams little girl." Turning to leave again, Sasuke accosted them this time.

"What is your name, the one with the gourd."

"Sabaku no Gaara," the flat-voiced redhead answered. "Yours?"

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Gaara nodded. "I will remember it. Hopefully we will meet in the Chunin Exams."

"Likewise," Sasuke stated. As the trio of Suna-genin retreated, Sasuke turned on Naruto.

"Say, wanna go somewhere and have a fight. I am rather anxious to see how much stronger you have gotten since last time."

Until recently, he would have denied the dobe's challenge outright, but ever since the mission to Wave, he had been thinking about the blond boy, thinking of his actions in the Academy and after graduation. Gradually he had come to the conclusion that Naruto, for whatever reason, had been hiding his true skills while in school. So, while he would have rejected the old Naruto's request for a fight out of hand, he seriously considered this new Naruto's challenge. And accepted. But before they could even head towards the nearest training ground, a gloved hand landed on Sasuke's shoulder, preventing him from moving.

"Let's not get carried away here. Anyways, I have something to talk to you guys about."

"You got lucky teme. Next time Kakashi won't be here to save your ass."

Sasuke looked back and did something surprising. He pulled down one eyelid and stuck his tongue out, unknowingly imitating Konohamaru. Naruto, Hinata and Tenten laughed, causing Sasuke to scowl and turn away. Naruto turned around to start walking the opposite way when he ran into something and was knocked on his ass. Looking up, he realized he had walked into his mother and frowned while Hinata pulled him up.

"How long were you there?"

"Long enough," Anko evaded. "But I have a surprise for you three," she said while grinning, holding three forms in one hand.


	15. Look of a Killer and the First Exam

**Chapter Fifteen: Look of a Killer and the First Examination**

The week leading up to the beginning of the Chunin Exams went by pretty quickly, mostly because they barely had a breather. What Anko had not mentioned when she had given the sign up forms to them, was that if they accepted, she would be tripling their normal training regimen _and_ doing D-rank missions, which were previously below her notice. So it was not an uncommon sight to see Naruto and Hinata leaning on one another, stumbling home, so exhausted that they barely had time to do more than undress, rinse off in the shower and collapse into blissful blackness. After all, it would do for them to die the first time they ran up against a hostile shinobi, never mind that they had already completed two C-ranks and an A-rank mission. Naruto thought she just liked running them into the ground. Anko didn't deny that it wasn't a nice side benefit.

The three genin had thought her original training regimen was harsh, but this new one made her previous training sessions look like she was playing with kiddie gloves. She had not taught them any new jutsu, instead focusing on having them master the handful of jutsu that they already possessed. Anko explained it like this: "A shinobi with nothing more but the Basic Three, (Transformation, Clone and Escape Techniques,) but has spent time making sure she had mastered those three techniques completely is a hundred times more dangerous than a shinobi with a hundred techniques, but is unfamiliar with them."

The second thing she focused on was hand seal speed. "The faster you can use a jutsu, the sooner you can kill an enemy. So, faster hand seals only make you more dangerous." This was done by hours and hours of sitting in the dirt and progressing through the twelve basic seals, repeated more times than any of the three genin could count. Eventually Anko had them do the seals with their eyes closed, smacking them upside the head every time they made a mistake. Needless to say, it wasn't long before they were performing hand seals flawlessly.

The third thing they worked on was helping Tenten fight with her firearms. Tenten usually left her two rifles at home, instead carrying half a dozen pistols with her, two holstered at the small of her back, two at her ankles and a pair of tiny derringers up her sleeves. Mostly they focused on her draw and firing speed. The greatest disadvantage to firearms were their long reload times. Tenten circumvented this to an extent by using a mud clone to reload one of her rifles while she shot the other and carrying so many pistols on her person.

The hardest aspect of using her guns was getting a bead on her target. Most shinobi were fast enough that she had to lead her shot, which was rather tricky most of the time. However, a bullet was many times faster than a kunai or shuriken, so once she had her target in her sights, they were as good as dead. Unfortunately, she had never had the opportunity to use them in live combat, (something that irked her to no end,) but she had hundreds of hours practicing on Naruto, and had about eighty percent accuracy on his clones.

She also developed several nonlethal shots to use either in practice or to disable a target. It had taken several weeks and hundreds of trials to do it. Paintballs simply exploded in the barrel, and bean bags tended to incinerate. Rubber, wax and plastic bullets melted in the barrel. Using some kind of elemental charge seemed like it would work, if only she and Naruto could figure out a way to create a bullet that wouldn't damage her rifle. They only elemental bullets that Naruto had been able to create at first were of fire, which did not work well. Rather than exploding on impact as they were supposed to, the instead turned her rifle into a short-lived flamethrower. However, the incredible heat released warped the barrel, rendering it unusable. She had been pretty ticked about that.

Water bullets did absolutely nothing, the unsealed water simply extinguished the black powder before it could impart any momentum.

The problem was that the seals inscribed on the bullets activated when the black powder in the cartridge ignited. Naruto had tried to circumvent this problem by putting the seal on the inside of the cartridge, with little effect. Even coating the cartridges in wax didn't help much, as they were as likely to misfire as not. Another ruined rifle had been the result of that, as well as the beginning of using throwaway guns for experimentation from then on.

Even Jiraiya wasn't able to come up with a satisfactory solution at first. A seal to reinforce the cartridge completely negated any effect at all, turning them back into regular bullets. But once he sat down and gave it some serious consideration, he came up with a solution quickly.

The problem with her less-lethal rounds was that they either fired too early or not at all. So a way to ignite the seals as the bullet was leaving the barrel was needed. The solution was pretty simple, if not cheap. Just about any material was capable of conducting chakra, but most were so inefficient that it was not practical. But there was one kind that had been developed to channel chakra, an alloy of gold and silver called electrum. It was not often used, as it was structurally inferior to steel, or even unrefined iron, but did find occasional use.

So she had a small plate of electrum by the trigger and on the underside of the barrel where her hand steadied the rifle inlaid into the wood. A thin wire of electrum connected the two plates to a pair of small electrum contact plates of the inside the rifle barrel at the muzzle. When Tenten pulled the trigger and shot the rifle, she ran a small amount of chakra through the electrum plates, down the barrel, and when the bullet struck the two contact plates at the end of the barrel and activated the seals on the bullet. She also modified all of her pistols except for her two derringers, which were just too small, in the same way.

The bullets were time consuming to make, as the seals had to be tiny, and were fairly intricate. Converting something with physical mass to something as ephemeral as fire, lightning or wind was not easy. Creating an elemental bullet took Naruto about thirty minutes. For Tenten, who was a relative novice, it took her closer to an hour. An unexpected side effect of charging the bullets at the end of the barrel was the ability to fire variable strength bullets. Simply put, the more chakra she put into it, the stronger the effect was.

The final modifications she made to her guns was a protective seal inscribed at the muzzle to prevent the barrel from warping with the use of certain cartridges.

After considerable experimentation, they were able to create six different kinds of cartridges. She had two types of fire cartridges, one that created a short lived, short range cone of white-hot fire, capable of igniting just about anything on fire and one that exploded on impact. The third kind were charged with lightning chakra to deliver a stunning shock on impact, capable of inducing a heart attack if highly charged. The largest advantage it had was that it was silent, emitting only a snap as it fired. On the other hand, it was somewhat inaccurate at range. If there was a large source of metal nearby, the lightning bolt would strike that. The fourth type of cartridge used wind chakra to increase the velocity of the bullet to the point where it almost doubled her range. A drawback to the wind chakra-charged cartridge was that it was loud, emitting am almost deafening crack when fired. A fifth fired a globule of water powerful enough to break ribs and knock a target off his feet with stunning force. Her final elemental cartridge used the earth-type chakra that with the rifling on the inside of the barrel fired what was essentially a drill. Theoretically, it should be able to shoot through a first target to hit a second one behind.

With the addition of the elemental cartridges, her belt was starting to get quite heavy. Tenten always wore a heavy brown leather belt over her pants to support everything she carried. In addition to the kunai pouch and sword, she had a number of leather pouches of varying sizes. The largest of them all carried ammunition for her two rifles, holding about thirty .577 caliber cartridges. The next pouch carried ten .45 caliber cartridges for her main pistols. A third pouch carried ten cartridges for the pair of .38 she carried in her ankle holsters, and a fourth held ten cartridges for the .22 derringers in her sleeves. Then she had six pouches for her various elemental cartridges. After that she had a pouch for her field maintenance kit. Finally were the two holsters, strapped on upside down so that the hand grip pointed up for a quicker draw.

Each pouch was held closed by a pair of powerful magnets and marked with a series of raised bumps, arranged in a code to tell her which pouch held what without having to actually look as that would be awkward for some, which were at the small of her back.

OoOoO

The day before the Chunin Exams were to start, Team Nine dragged themselves to the training area that they had claimed as theirs, already sore and tired. Anko materialized in a shunshin a few minutes later. Realizing at what sorry state her genin were in, she did something she almost never did. She had mercy. "Geeze, you guys are in a sorry state. Take the day off. You turn up looking like that for the first exam tomorrow and you will have every team not from Konoha looking to turn you to mincemeat. Don't forget. Tomorrow at four, room 301. Sayonara!"

Naruto slowly turned from where Anko had been to look at both girls. Giggling in relief, Naruto fell backwards, cushioning his head with an arm. Not having had a day off in a while, nobody really had any idea what they wanted to do. So having no ideas himself, he asked the other two.

"Hey guys, what do you want to do?" Naruto asked.

"I dunno, what do you want to do?" Tenten replied. Naruto merely reiterated his original question again, followed by Tenten also repeating herself. They repeated this cycled about a dozen times before Hinata broke out giggling, quickly followed by Naruto and Tenten, although Naruto would later vehemently deny any accusation of giggling. It simply wasn't manly.

After the trio master themselves, Naruto suggested, for a lack of anything else, why didn't they go visit Iruka in the Academy. Tenten agreed readily enough, so the triad left training ground nineteen, making a beeline for the Konoha Shinobi Academy. The women in the front office gave them strange looks as they signed in and put on name tags, Hinata rolling her eyes when Naruto wrote 'Master Prankster' instead of his name. She took another tag and wrote out his name properly and stuck it under the first tag, barely missing a beat. Naruto simply grinned.

It only took a minute for them to find Iruka's ground level classroom. Naruto peeked in through the window in the door to see what was going on in the room before entering. It looked like Iruka was in the middle of a lesson, facing the chalkboard and drawing on it while talking at the same time. Smirking, Naruto put a finger to his lips.

"Naruto-kun" Tenten hissed at him, vainly making a grab for him as he slipped through the door into the classroom. The student's attention was drawn to the interloper immediately, any outcry silenced with Naruto put a finger to his lips, smiling. When he had assured Iruka's students silence, he formed three hand seals and faded from view. The resultant surge of chakra and the collective gasp of surprise alerted Iruka to something being amiss. Whirling in an attempt to catch one of his students doing something they shouldn't, he narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but returned to the chalkboard when he saw nothing out-of-place. Silently approaching Iruka from behind, Naruto tapped him on the shoulder, gracefully ducking out-of-the-way when Iruka turned on the class again.

Naruto was barely able to restrain his laughter as he played the poltergeist to Iruka, stealing his chalk, yanking his seat out from underneath him, shuffling things around on his desk. Finally Iruka pulled out a smoke bomb and threw it onto the floor. Iruka leaped at the silhouette created by the billowing smoke and was able to subdue Naruto in short order. Even after nine months of training, Iruka was still able to tie knots that were above Naruto's ability to escape. By this time, everyone in the class was laughing.

"Alright class, settle down. Tenten-chan, Hinata-chan, you can come in now."

A moment later, the two girls entered the room, looking slightly sheepish. "Hello Iruka-sensei," Hinata muttered.

"Good morning to you too. I am glad you three decided to drop by today" Iruka continued. "We were just doing a review of how to tie a captive up and how to slip one's bonds in the event of capture. Now Naruto here," Iruka paused for a moment as Naruto struggled to escape Iruka's pin, "has most generously volunteered to be practiced on," which elicited a loud squawk that was largely ignored. Iruka grinned.

OoOoO

An hour later Naruto sat on the floor rubbing his chafed wrists. "That was mean Iruka-sensei."

"You interrupted my lesson."

"Well, yeah, but you didn't have to tie me up."

Iruka rolled his eyes at Naruto's pout and changed the subject. "Did you come back just to mess with me or did you have an actual purpose?"

"Oh yeah. Mom is going to enter us into the Chunin Exams tomorrow. I just wanted to let you know I will be the same rank as you soon Iruka-sensei." Naruto laced his fingers around the back of his head, giving his trademark squint-eyed smile.

When Naruto said that, two thoughts ran though Iruka's head. _'So confident that he will get promoted on his first exam,' _was followed hard by _'you are not ready for this, only ten months after you graduated.' _While he said nothing his face betrayed him because Hinata commented on his thoughts exactly.

"We are not the same people that you taught last year, Iruka-sensei." Iruka's gaze flicked to Hinata almost involuntarily.

"Am I so transparent?" he asked weakly.

"Only to a Hyuuga," she assured him, a balm to his confidence. If he could be read so easily by a mere genin, his skill had atrophied quite severely since he became a teacher. But he considered her words, reexamining his former students. Gone was the last traces of baby fat from Naruto's frame, replaced by hard, whiplike muscle. When he moved, it was not with the bounding stride of over exuberance, but a carefully measured distance, always ready to receive an attack. But most disturbing of all perhaps was the easy familiarity with which he handled his sword. Every few minutes he would draw his short blade an inch or so, making sure it was clear in the scabbard, done almost unconsciously, proof of long habit.

Hinata was no longer the shy, painfully self-aware girl any more. She was still quiet, but now she was quiet because she did not have anything to say, instead of a fearful quiet. She to move with the grace of a snake, never off balance, eyes never still for more than a few seconds, constantly hunting for threats. Gone was the nervous finger tapping, the fearful aversion of her gaze. When he looked at her, she met his scrutiny with a clear and steady eye.

Tenten's changes were more subtle. She seemed like her old self, only moreso, like she had been concentrated, like a sword folded back on itself again and again, heated in the furnace until the impurities were removed. She had always been self-confident, assured in herself. When she had entered the room, she dragged a chair over to a corner and sat in it, facing the entire room, back exposed to no one. He had a feeling that she never lost track of anybody, not even for an instant. Before she had carried her weapons in many pouches. Now she wore a shirt that was almost more pockets than anything else, and judging how she held her arms and back, he would be willing to bet his next paycheck that she had knives up her sleeves and down her back. All that was in addition to the pair of guns she carried at the small of her back. The miniature firearm that she played with almost absently, flipping it around her finger could be dangerous, assuming she could hit someone.

But one thing that all three shared was a look in the eye, a slight shift in weight, an unconscious checking of their weapons that set them apart most of all. These mannerisms were something that all veteran ninja acquired at some point over their careers. It was a quality that Hatake Kakashi had, that Morino Ibiki had, that Mitarashi Anko, Nara Shikaku, Sarutobi Hiruzen had. It was the look of a killer. Of someone who had tamed Death, kept it in a breast pocket, ready to be loosed in an instant and easily leashed again. Viewing his former students in the light of this new realization Iruka realized how right Hinata was. "Maybe you three are ready for the Exams after all. You three truly are shinobi."

It was a long minute before anyone could break the silence that had fallen over the room. Naruto stood up and offered his hand to Iruka, a true smile curving his lips. "Thank you Sensei." Somehow, when he uttered that last sentence, Naruto felt like Iruka had meant it more than he ever had before, even on the day of the genin exam. That simple statement told him that he really was worthy of the Konoha hitai-aite he wore. Giving Iruka a slight bow, which was returned, Naruto spun on his heel heading for the door. Hinata and Tenten were flanking him in three paces. It did not escape the schoolteacher's notice how Tenten, who was on Naruto's right, stayed a bit farther back and to the side than Hinata did. That way she would not endanger Naruto with a sloppy draw of her sword. Just one more bit adding to the aura of professionalism that surrounded the three now. _'Good luck guys,' _Iruka thought one last time before returning to his paperwork.

OoOoO

"So did you find what you were looking for from Iruka-sensei?" Hinata asked Naruto half an hour later.

Naruto paused inhaling the bowl of Ichiraku's finest ramen as he considered the question. "Yeah. Yeah I did." He hadn't grasped exactly why he wanted to go visit Iruka all of a sudden, but he understood now that he had gone to his former teacher, probably the only person who knew him better than his mother, for an objective opinion of whether he was ready for the Chunin Exams. With Iruka's approval he felt... less concerned about whether or not he would be up to the challenge. If Iruka thought he was ready, then he was.

But his musing was interrupted by a familiar voice, one he hadn't heard in several months since departing Kirigakure. Naruto spun in place on his stool to face the owner. "Sora-chan!" Naruto blurted in surprise.

"Sora-chan?" blond Kiri-nin repeated, one eyebrow arched.

"Ah, Sora-san?" Naruto corrected himself.

"Nice to see you too Naruto-san. This is my sensei whom you have already met, Aramaki Daisuke, and my two teammates, Yamoto Suki and Kenji Kenji, yes that is his first and last name." Both of the other genin were considerably older than Sora, Suki looking to be about fifteen or sixteen and Kenji possibly as old as twenty, although the full mustache and astro turf beard could make him look older than he was. Suki was ravishingly and traditionally beautiful and knew it. Suki wore her clothes as if she were about to slip out of them for a long night in bed, and with her B-cup breasts (just the right size for holding, the thought flitting almost unnoticed across his mind,) narrow waist that led to legs that went on forever, her luxuriously thick black hair, tied up except for a few strands to frame her oval face and dark almost shaped eyes were almost extraneous.

Kenji was tall, probably having reach most of his adult height was almost handsome. His features were just slightly off, eye a tad too large, set just a hair too far apart, nose a little too short, lips barely too thin. With the way that he had his eyes half closed and the black Mohawk that more than vaguely resembled some sort of reptilian ridge, the impression was of a lazy lizard enjoying the chance to sun itself in the heat. Beside his three students the compact Daisuke was positively bland. Of average height, the word to describe the man was compact. His face was heavily scarred, a thick ridge of scar tissue rising over his eyebrows, a nose that had been broken at least three times and mashed in lips. He had a thick barrel chest with wide shoulders, arms hanging gorilla-like ending in twisted and bent rectangular fingers. A thin fringe of wispy grey hair ran around his bald palate finished the picture of an aging boxer who had a long and prolific career.

Suki looked like she was going to lean over and tease Naruto some, apparently thought better of it when she glanced behind him. Naruto looked behind him to see what prevented was going to have been a very nice view, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. "You guys hungry?" Naruto asked the Mist shinobi. "Ichiraku's is the best ramen in town."

Glancing to his three students, Daisuke answered an affirmative in his slightly gravelly voice. As the newcomers sat down, things somehow got shuffled around so that Naruto was seated against the wall with Sora, then Kenji, Hinata, Tenten, Daisuke, and furthest away from Naruto was Suki. Naruto eyed Tenten and Hinata but they gave no sign that they saw him doing so. Kenji smirked and leaned over the shorter Sora to talk to Naruto.

"Protective, aren't they?" Kenji asked. "You involved with either of them?"

"Yes they are and yes I am," Naruto replied somewhat tersely.

"Which one?"

"Both." That got a look that said either he was the luckiest guy in the Elemental Countries, or the most cursed. "You gotten it on with either one?" any meaning that was missed in the words or tone was explicitly stated by the not-so-subtle hip thrust. One that was quickly followed by a shocked look and grunt of pain.

"Ignore the man-whore. He just hasn't gotten any in a while, and it is likely to stay that way for a good long time." This was said while barely looking away from her soup as she casually stabbed Kenji in the thigh with their chopsticks. By the reaction of the other two, this was not an uncommon occurrence. Daisuke set his chopsticks down and withdrew a compact medikit, methodically cleaning and binding the wound with an air of long experience with this type of wound. A minute later, Daisuke helped Kenji back onto his seat and the meal resumed.

"You two aren't, um, you know, _together_ are you?"

"Occasionally, when Kenji isn't too much of a mule-headed man to be with."

"Oh. But aren't you a little, well, young to be going out with him?"

"No, not really. You are only thirteen and you already have a wife."

"What! How did you know that?"

"Remember I said that the Mizukage keeps a close eye on others like us. And besides, I'm older than I look."

"How old are you?"

Sora gave him a withering glance. "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to ask a woman how old she is?" Naruto flushed at returned his gaze to the cooling soup in front of him. The rest of the meal was spent more or less in silence. Sora and Naruto finished and the meal was paid for (leaving a very happy Teuchi behind,) the two groups went their separate ways, the Kiri ninja back to their hotel and the Konoha ninja back home to prepare for the exam tomorrow.

OoOoO

The genin element of Team Nine got quite a few looks from passersby and other genin once on the Academy grounds. Naruto suppressed a smirk at all the surprised looks they were getting. And with the team's new outfits, they were certainly cause for a second look. Naruto thought back on the team meeting earlier in the day.

**Flashback no Jutsu**

Tenten held the new clothing up for inspection. "You sure about this Anko?"

"Of course I am sure. Why couldn't I be?" Anko demanded to know.

"Just asking. Sheesh."

Anko rolled her eyes and sighed. "Alright brats, listen up. Uniforms serve a purpose. Every army worth it's salt has a uniform. Wanna know why? Uniforms represent organization, power and most of all, numbers. You know that someone wearing a uniform is not alone, that there are always more to back him up and help him out, that there is a force behind him that takes care of him. This in turn inspires fear, even if it is only a moment's hesitation. And as you well know, there is no more potent weapon than fear. Uniforms make it easier to spot someone, but sometimes, that is what you want."

"Huh, well then why don't ninjas wear uniforms?"

"That is because we are not an army. The Hidden Villages are the special forces of the military world. We operate by different rules than anyone else does. We are the go anywhere, do anything force, and because of this we are more lax in many aspects of military culture than any other militant force."

Seeing the new outfits in this new light, the three teens donned them without further protest.

**Flashback no Jutsu KAI!**

As soon as the Academy was in sight, Hinata and Tenten fell back slightly to flank Naruto, all three adopting a slight swagger, a slightly exaggerated familiarity with their weapons and fluidity of motion. They bypassed the crowd that had gathered around the genjutsued room on the second floor by slipping out a window and scaling the wall. Stepping into the real Room 301 they were the center of attention almost immediately.

The Team Nine trio were each wearing black ninja sandals (Naruto had painted his geta black,) dark green pants made of rugged denim, specially reinforced around the knees. A pair of shuriken pouches were taped to their thighs, Tenten's and Hinata's swords handing from plain brown leather belts, Naruto's slung over his shoulder from a doubled-over red cord that was also wrapped around the sheath and hilt. Tenten had a large scroll on her belt containing her two rifles and enough ninja hardware (including but not limited to kunai, shuriken, senbon and wire) to arm a small country. Given the size of her rifles, they were too unwieldy to use inside and at close quarters, which the first exam would most likely be.

Over their chests each wore dark shirts, dark sunglasses and black face masks, not wholly dissimilar to the kind that Hatake Kakashi wore, as well as a dark scarf over Naruto bright yellow hair. But most noticeably, Hinata and Tenten each had a replica of Naruto's black trench coat with the nine tailed Uzumaki crest in white-tipped gold on the back. Their hitai-aite had been tied around their right biceps, just under the shoulder. Finally, they each wore a pair of non-standard gloves, full fingered rather than the more popular fingerless model, extending up the arm to cover any flesh.

As soon as they were inside, they moved out-of-the-way of anyone entering through door and moved to place their backs against the front wall, spread out slightly so that they had all approachable angles covered. The effect worked perfectly. Seeing three nearly identical, unidentifiable ninja enter the room without a word, almost completely covered up from crown to sole, the only flesh exposed being two thin strips, one between the facemasks and sunglasses and the other between the sunglasses and their hairlines, put most of the genin present on edge, even the veterans. They watched as Teams Seven and Ten arrived, Sakura and Ino bicker over Sasuke, Kiba and Sasuke trade lighthearted barbs over who would beat whom. Looking around the room Shikamaru spoke up.

"Huh, so all nine rookies are here. Been a while since that has happened."

"Nice seeing you too Shikamaru," Naruto replied from the wall.

"Normally I would ask what is up with the new getup, but it is honestly too confusing. Every time I see you, you have a new wardrobe."

"Geeze Naruto, you three look like clones. It's a little creepy." Naruto just smiled back at Choji, the fabric of his face mask tight enough to give a faint impression of his curved lips. Sasuke just snorted.

"It's just like you, trying to act all mysterious and cool. You just look like an idiot. You even copied Kakashi-sensei's face mask."

"Naruto-sama is far cooler than you are Sasuke-san," Hinata replied calmly, distinguishable only by her black hair.

"Naruto-sama? Sakura sniggered. "Seriously? Wow, you guys are trying way too hard." But in the back of her mind Sakura recalled the almost contemptuous ease with which they had been defeated back in Wave Country. When they had gotten home one of the first things Sakura had done was do a little research on Anko. There was no mention of her sensei or genin cell, but one thing that she had been able to find out was that she was one of the top assassins in Konoha after her own sensei, and an ANBU codenamed Kage, which was about all she could find out.

"I wouldn't say so, Sakura-san. Take a look around us." Sakura did, just now taking note of the attention that their group had garnered. "I don't really think that we are the ones that the rest of the room is interested in. Think of it this way, who would consider more dangerous, a ninja who is covered up head to toe, with clothes that would be easy to hide a lot of weapons in, or someone who is easily identifiable, who does not seem to be concealing many weapons?"

Everyone seemed to consider Shikamaru's words and reexamine Team Nine again. Naruto smirked under his face mask. "Shikamaru hit the nail on the head, but I would appreciate it if you would keep such thoughts to yourself in the future." Shikamaru inclined his head slightly to Naruto in acquiescence.

But before anyone else could make any more annoyingly perceptive comments, a stranger approached them. "Hey, you guys should be a little more discreet. You are the newest Academy graduates, right?"

"Yeah, and who are you?" Kiba retorted.

"Name is Kabuto. I mean, you are rookies, so I can understand, but most of those foreign ninja back there have probably lumped you all together as forming an alliance or something. Do you see anyone else talking to another team? Kinda reminds me of how I used to be."

"Uh, Kabuto-san, so is this your second time taking the test?"

"Nope. This will by my seventh time."

"Wow, so you know a lot about it then?"

"You could say that. In fact, I will share some information about the test with you rookies. After all, we are from the same village, and would be a shame to lose nine ninja on their first time in the Exams." Reaching into a pouch on his waist, he withdrew a stack of cards. "These are called nin-info cards. By using my chakra to burn the information onto them, I am the only person who can look at them. This is the effort of four years work, and I have managed to create over 200 cards. The top card on my deck is a breakdown for participants of this year's Chunin Exam by country."

"Do you have information on individuals taking the Exam?" Sasuke queried the elder genin.

"Worried about someone in particular? Yeah I do, but keep in mind that these cards are not 100 percent accurate. Foreign villages are understandably closemouthed about the abilities of their ninja, so there may be gaps or unintentionally misleading bits of information. Who do you want to know about?"

"Hyuuga Naruto of Konohagakure and Gaara of Sunagakure," Sasuke replied, glancing over to Naruto. Wrapped up as he was, they couldn't see the frown or general tensing of his body. Naruto made himself ready to interrupt Kabuto if he started to say too much.

"Hyuuga Naruto: graduate of the most recent Academy class. Mission history: five D-ranks, two C-ranks, one upgraded A-rank. Mentored by his adoptive mother, Mitarashi Anko. Teammates with Hyuuga Hinata and Higurashi Tenten. Possessor of a unique and thusfar unnamed secret technique and kenjutsu specialist, along with his two teammates.

"Gaara of the Desert: eight C-ranks and a B-rank, reportedly never harmed on a mission. Since he is a foreign newcomer, that is about everything I have on him."

"What about Kaiyou Sora from Kirigakure?" Naruto inquired.

"Kayou Sora: another exceptional ninja this year. Graduated three years ago. Mission history: eight C-ranks, four B-ranks and two A-ranks. A specialist in Suiton jutsu rumored to be on par with the Nidaime Hokage who is regarded as the greatest Suiton user ever. This is her first Chunin Exam. There are many villages in attendance this year, Leaf, Sand, Rain, Grass, Waterfall, and the new Sound Village. With the possible exception of Sound, only the cream of the genin crop was sent to try to get promoted. That means that every ninja here is a veteran, unlike you guys."

Naruto shifted his attention from the ever-so-helpful other genin when he noticed movement among the mass of other shinobi. His hand flew to the hilt of Kitsune under his trench coat and over his shoulder, preparing to draw it at the slightest provocation, as did the rest of the Konoha genin. But Kabuto was the focus of the Sound ninja attack. Kabuto was able to avoid the pair of kunai thrown by one of the males, but was barely able to avoid the follow up attack by his mantled partner. Everyone was surprised when Kabuto's glasses were broken anyway and he keeled over and vomited.

"This is the best Konoha has to offer? Pathetic, especially for a supposed four-year veteran." But before they could continue, they were interrupted by a plume of ninja smoke obscuring the front of the room. When it had cleared, a disfigured man in a coat not too different from the ones Team Nine were wearing appeared, along with about twenty other ninja.

"Thanks for waiting. My name is Morino Ibiki, head examiner for the Chunin Selection Examination's First Test." Seeing the Sound and Leaf ninja facing off, he pointed a finger at them. "You there, stop doing as you please. Anyone who does not follow my orders to the letter will be summarily failed. And that includes fighting without my permission. Now, everyone is to get up and pick a number from the bag here. When you have done so, you will proceed to the seat corresponding to that number and then the tests will be passed out."

Naruto blanched at this. Back in the Academy, much of his lackluster performance was an act, but he had never done well on theoretical tests. A few minutes later, everyone had been reseated, teams divided up all over the room. When everyone had a piece of paper in front of them, the scarred examiner spoke up again.

"Before you all start your tests, let me lay out the rules. Be sure to get them right because there are no questions allowed. In fact, there is to be no talking at all. Anyone found to be doing so will be failed. There are ten questions on this part of the exam. Each correct answer is worth one point, for a total of ten points. Second, this is a collaborative test, meaning that if one of you teammates fails, so do you. Finally, every time someone is caught cheating by an examiner, two points will be deducted from his or her score. If your score is reduced to zero, by either answering incorrectly or cheating, or a combination of the two, you and your two teammates will be asked to leave. If you do decide to cheat, you better do it well because we will be keeping a close eye on you," Ibiki said, motioning to the ninja lined up around the edge of the room holding clipboards.

"The test will last exactly one hour, with the final question given fifteen minutes from the end of the test. That is all, you may begin."

As everyone flipped over their papers, Naruto took one look at the questions and realized that there was no way he could confidently answer them correctly. That being said, he began to make his best guess on each one, on the hope that he could get at least one right. _'Then again there is the final question. I just hope that- wait what was that?' _A brief flash of light from one of the depressed lights had caught his attention. Eying the flash of light, he realized that the flashes were not random, that they were actually a coded message. _'Tenten-chan, you clever, clever girl.' _He fiddled with his face mask when he had deciphered the message that Tenten was relaying, signifying that he had seen her message.

Keeping an eye on the hidden mirror, Tenten was able to relay the answers she had, after she had gotten them from Hinata, who was cheating via her Byakugan, obscuring the telltale bulging veins and washed out irises by leaning forward to let her hair hide her face. Naruto kept on like he was still puzzling out some of the questions even after he had gotten all nine of them , so as not to make himself an obvious target for cheating off of. He smirked at some of the other genin who were not so skilled at disguising their dismay at the difficulty of the questions. Between Ibiki's phrasing of the rules and the overkill force they were using to prevent cheating, like the examiners were expecting them to cheat, and the level of questions that were out of the ability of a normal genin to answer, made it quite obvious that cheating was the objective of this test.

Basically, the only way to pass the test was to either be smart enough to answer the questions, or sneaky enough to avoid detection by the chunin administering the test. However one passed, a person had to be smarted or sneakier than the proctors, therefor proving that one had the skills of a chunin.

As time passed, proctors began calling numbers, dismissing teams with members that were not good enough to be worthy of promotion. Halfway into the test, approximately one third of the potentates had been failed, increasing as more time elapsed. By forty-five minutes about half of the teams were weeded out. Naruto nearly jumped in his seat when the cloaked head examiner barked the administration of the final question.

"Before I give the tenth question, I am going to stipulate some additional rules. These are the rules of desperation, your decision whether or not to take the last question."

"What? What do you mean, whether or not to take the last question? What happens if you don't?" the blond Suna-nin from earlier in the week asked.

"Your points are reduced to zero, resulting in the failure of yourself and your teammates."

"Well, those are stupid rules! Of course we will take them!" a goggled shinobi from Taki yelled.

"Don't be so hasty. I am sure that the second rule will change quite a few of your minds. So, if you elect to answer the final question and by chance answer incorrectly, that person will forever lose the right to participate in the Chunin Selection Exams ever again."

"What kind of retarded rule is that? There are people who have taken the exam before here? How could they be here if they failed the question before?"

Ibiki chuckled in such a way, as if relishing Kiba's ignorance before enlightening him. "That is because this is my first time overseeing this test. You guys are unlucky to have me this time around. But there is a way to ensure that you can still advance at a later date, a way out if you will. If you choose not to take the question at all, you can try again next year, along with your teammates." Ibiki paused to let the implications sink in. "Those who wish to quit now, raise you hand to have your number confirmed and leave now. Anyone who is not absolutely sure in their ability to answer the final question should leave now." After a moment, several hands raised and were excused from the room.

Smirking to himself, Naruto started to tentatively raise his hand, as if he were intending to give up, but then slamming his fist down onto the surface of the table, simultaneously rising to address the head proctor. "Stop screwing around! I will take the last question, no matter the consequences. Attaining the rank of chunin is only an outward sign of strength. Even if it never becomes possible for me to advance beyond genin, I just become the only genin to ever become a Kage. There is no law stating that a candidate must be any particular rank for consideration. Hell, even ANBU only considers applicant based on strength rather than rank. I am not afraid, so just give me the last question already!"

"Think about your decision carefully. This will affect you for the rest of your life. Last chance, it is time to do or die."

"Heh, just because I am a genin does not prevent me from getting stronger. I follow my words with unbending will. That is my ninja way. So do your worst."

Seeing nobody else quitting, Ibiki smirked. _'Huh, he has completely erased any hesitation among the rest of the room. What charisma this kid has to convince twenty-six teams to go ahead.' _Out loud he announced "good choices you have all made. May I congratulate everyone still here on passing the first test."

That statement was met with mass confusion. Ibiki grinned, the scars marring his face twisting the expression into a demented parody of a smile. "When I asked if you wanted to risk any chance of future promotion to you ability to answer one question, that was the tenth question. The first nine questions served a purpose. Those questions were deliberately beyond the ability of most of you to answer, so we planted three chunin with the answers for you to cheat off of. Those who cheated conspicuously were ejected from the exam."

As he said this, Ibiki removed the bandanna covering his head so that everyone could see the mass of lacerations and burns that decorated his scalp. Naruto instinctively flinched and put one hand to his scalp where white hairs covered his own scars. He hated to think of how Ibiki had gained such injuries. After giving the room a moment to absorb the sight, he resumed his speech.

"There will be times where information is more important than your life. There will be times where you will risk your lives to acquire it. Having the skill to get these bits of info is important for two reasons. First, if you are noticed, there is no guarantee that the info will be accurate. Accurate information is the deadliest weapon a village can possess. Secondly, if you are noticed, there is the chance that you will be taken captive and tortured.

"The tenth question was a leap of faith. As chunin, you will sometime be given a mission to retrieve a scroll, but the number of guards, their abilities, readiness, etcetera, are all unknown. You must make a choice: to accept the mission or to decline it. Can you avoid a mission just because it is dangerous? NO! The force of will to say yes to such a mission is a quality that is required in a chunin. Those who were willing to risk everything are people who already possess the determination of a chunin. You have all made it through the First Exam. I wish everyone here good luck, because it only gets harder from here on out."

As he finished his speech, the door opened and a red-eyed beauty clad mostly in what appeared to be bandages and fishnetting, entered the room. She surveyed the room for a few seconds before turning to Ibiki. "You are going soft Ibiki-san. You let twenty-six teams pass your test."

"Nah, there are just a lot of exceptional ninja this year."

"If you say so. In the end it really doesn't matter. My test will cut them in half, at a minimum. Everyone out! Follow me to proceed to the Second Exam!"

**Omake**

As everyone flipped over their papers, Naruto took one look at the questions and realized that there was no way he could confidently answer them correctly. But there was something bothering him about the phrasing of the rules. The way that they were laid out, they were both expecting everyone to cheat and being extraordinarily lenient about it. Back in the Academy, your test was confiscated if you were suspected of cheating. So after thinking about it for a minute Naruto arrived at the conclusion that the entire point of the exam was to test the intelligence gathering skills of the test takers.

Once he made that conclusion, he started searching for someone who looked like they knew what they were doing. Spotting one likely candidate, Naruto waited for his target to finish his test before he calmly walked up to the person and bold-as-you-please took his test and started to return to his desk. But his progress was halted momentarily when Ibiki spoke.

"Number 45, what do you think you are doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm cheating," the blond replied with a mix of faux confusion and honest curiosity.

"45, you and your two teammates fail."

"No we don't. We are given four times to cheat before we are disqualified. This is my first offense. I have to be caught cheating four more times before I can be failed for cheating."

Tuning around he sat back down at his seat and transferred the answers to his test. After that he did the same to Hinata's and Tenten's tests before returning the paper to it's owner. Everyone in the room was watching Ibiki, waiting for the head proctor to find a flaw in Naruto's logic. Unfortunately for Ibiki, Naruto had found an ironclad loophole in the rules, one the rest of the room was fast to exploit when they saw that Ibiki had no viable retort

Kurenai looked in shock as Morino Ibiki, a man legendary for his sadism, was curled up in a corner, rocking back and forth, bawling his eyes out, moaning something about a "blond demon." It was years before Ibiki could repair the tatters that was left of his reputation after that fateful day. That year saw more genin promoted to chunin than in all the exams in the past five years together.

**Fin**


	16. The Second Exam and the Chunin Motto

**Chapter Sixteen: The Second Exam and the Chunin Motto**

Kurenai led the twenty-six teams of genin to one of the larger training areas. Training Area 44, aka the Forest of Death. The abnormally gigantic trees were sharply bounded by a tall fence topped by a thick coil of barbed wire. There was a small tent by the fence, two larges sings printed with glaring red letters as big as a person's forearm declaring the area within to be extremely dangerous and warning anyone thinking of entering not to do so, as "survivors will be prosecuted."

Facing the group with the forest looming menacingly behind her, Kurenai laid out the rules for the Second Exam. "Behind me, for those that can read, is the aptly named Forest of Death. In a few minutes each team will be given one of two scrolls. A team that is given a Heaven scroll," Kurenai now held up a white bordered scroll with the kanji for 'heaven' printed on it in one hand," will have to obtain an Earth scroll." Kurenai now held a black bordered scroll with that said earth in her other hand. "A team assigned an Earth scroll will have to do the reverse. Scroll will be passed out in the tent behind me once a team brings three liability waivers to it. This is a survival exam, no-holds-barred, everything goes. That means that there will be deaths, and Konoha will not be held responsible. Beyond this point, the only thing that is keeping any of you alive is your own strength.

"The rules are as follows: to qualify for the next round a team must make it ten kilometers into the forest where there is a tower with both a heaven and earth scroll. A team will be disqualified if they arrive at the tower without all three members, without both scrolls or with an opened scroll. The exam will last exactly 120 hours, or five days. There will be a one hour window for teams to turn in their scrolls on the fifth day. You will remain in the forest until the tower is open for the end of the exam, absolutely no exceptions. The waivers will be passed out now, so when you have signed all three, line up outside the tent and wait to receive your scroll. Once you have, a proctor will lead you to one of the 44 entrances spaced equidistant around the perimeter of the forest. From there you will wait there until the gates are unlocked. Any questions?"

"Yeah, what are we to do about food and water?" an abnormally rotund ninja asked.

"There is a river that flows through the forest, but there are plenty of edible plants and animals in the forest for anyone who knows how to look." When nobody else spoke up, the red-eyed jounin gestured to the chunin behind her to start passing the waivers out. A minute after that the first teams were being lead away to the gate they were to use. Naruto had bent over so that Hinata could use his back to sign her form on when he saw a familiar pair of feet in front of him. His gaze traveling upwards, he quirked an eyebrow.

"Something you want Sora-san?"

"Shut up Naruto-san. You know why I came over here, and I know that you are going to say yes, so why don't you give me a tracking seal, and we will meet up in the forest."

Grinning, Naruto rummaged around in his clothes, searching for a scrap of paper to use for the seal. Finally finding one, he drew a pen from another pocket and quickly sketched out a small seal, only as big as his palm. Carefully tearing the piece of paper in half, making sure that each half was exactly the same size, he pocketed one half and handed the other to Sora. She sketched a sloppy salute to Naruto and jogged back to her two teammates. Naruto quickly signed his own waiver and took all three up to the tent. Sticking the earth scroll he traded the waivers for, he pocketed it in his trench coat and followed the chunin to their gate. The guy didn't leave immediately, but had to wait with them until the half-hour that Kurenai had allotted for everyone to get to their assigned gate elapsed. Checking his watch every few minutes or so, the silence stretched interminably, the chunin having no interest in striking up a conversation with the featureless genin, none of the genin willing to speak in the presence of a stranger, fellow Konoha ninja or not. After all, in their business, it wasn't whether you were being paranoid, but whether you were being paranoid enough.

Eventually, the minute hand on the man's watch formed a straight line with the hour hand and he unlocked the gate. Team Nine strolled in, as casual as anything, as this was probably the safest spot for them to be for a while. The mute chunin locked the gate behind them and dematerialized in a burst of speed. Once Naruto was sure that they were alone, he removed two scrolls from his coat, one the earth scroll they had to keep a hold on for the test and a second blank unmarked scroll. Unrolling the second scroll, Hinata and Tenten saw that it was an empty sealing scroll. Placing the earth scroll in the circle of earth characters, Naruto placed a finger on the activation symbol, the kanji for order in this case, and the first scroll was sealed in the second, the word 'scroll' appearing where the actual scroll was previously. Naruto rolled the second scroll up and wrote 'clothes' on the outside. Tenten and Hinata looked to each other for a moment, appearing to come to some conclusion before grinning at Naruto.

"Sneaky," the word having an odd stereo quality as both girls spoke simultaneously. Naruto just shrugged. Putting his hand in a pocket, the blond boy withdrew the piece of paper bearing the half-seal he had kept. Spinning in place, he held the paper out in front of himself, before taking a dozen steps to the left and repeating the process. Walking to the side again, he triangulated some point with the paper. Walking away in the direction that the paper had apparently pointed him, he motioned for the other two to follow.

The trio traveled in leisurely silence until Tenten pulled down her face mask and removed her glasses. How Kakashi wore one all the time was a mystery to Tenten. The thing tickled every time she twitched her face, making her want to constantly itch her face and she could barely see with the shades on. Clearing her throat, Tenten got Naruto's attention. "Naruto-kun, hold on a minute. I want to talk about something that has been bugging me for a bit now."

"Yeah, what's wrong Tenten-chan?"

She reached over and pulled the thin layer of black fabric from over his nose and mouth and took his shades off. "For one, take off the mask and glasses when talking to me. I want to be able to see your face when speaking to you."

"Uh, okay I guess. What is wrong?"

"You have been acting weird lately. I want to know what is going on."

"What do you mean I've been acting weird?"

"I mean, when the proctor of the first test gave the tenth question, why did you give that speech you did? You kept more people from quitting than otherwise might. The more teams that are eliminated before we have to fight is better. But you were trying to encourage the rest of the room to take the last question. And what was up with that piece of paper that you gave that Kiri chick? Why would you give her a tracking seal?"

"I think what Tenten means is that you have been acting a little too friendly with some of the other teams taking the exam. Naruto-kun, I know that you like Kaiyou-san, but she is from another village. It is strange that you would go so far out of your way to help people that are our enemies, at least for the time being." Hinata had also pulled her face mask down around her neck and hung her glasses on the neck of her shirt. Her normally unreadable eyes were concerned for him now.

"Ah, okay, I see what you mean. Um, well, the thing during the first test was kinda a spur-of-the-moment thing. I didn't actually mean to say anything aloud at first. It just sort of slipped out. And Sora-san, well, she is an ally. She and I, that is we..."

"It's because she is a Jinchuuriki also." Hinata interrupted.

Naruto was quiet, as if debating how to answer her question. In the end he elected to tell them the truth, as they would probably find out eventually, as Sora really wasn't that closemouthed about the demon she contained. Besides, a lie now would only hurt them later, and he was loathe to do anything that was cause his two girls to view him with the least amount of distrust or suspicion. "Yeah. Even though she is respected in her village, she and I, well, I don't know how to say it. She knows what it is like to have to deal with some of the stuff I have to. I have been writing her letters for a while now and she has helped me with some things."

Neither Hinata or Tenten could figure a good response to this. Everyone knew how the village held at the very least a sour resentment towards Naruto, Tenten and Hinata in particular, especially about he had been mugged a couple of years ago. But this was foreign territory for them. It wasn't like they could even comprehend some of the problems he dealt with daily. Naruto and Sora both belonged to the same ultra-exclusive club, one that had only nine members, one that neither of the kunoichi could ever gain admittance to. It simply was beyond the scope of their experiences.

"Okay Naruto-kun. If you trust her so will I, as will Hinata I am sure." Hinata nodded when Tenten paused for a second. "But please, if you ever need someone to talk to, Hinata and I are always here. We will help you, if you will let us. We are a team, never forget that."

Naruto took a few seconds to reply, finally responding with a simple "Yeah, I know." Turning away he quickly consulted his half of the tracker seal he had and set off at a faster pace then before. Nobody spoke for the next twenty minutes, the solemnity of the conversation making all involved reluctant to break the heavy silence that had fallen. They came across the Kiri team twenty minutes after the start of the exam. The three Kiri ninja, not actually knowing the three Konoha ninja didn't think much of the silence between the three of them.

"Hey there Whiskers!" Kenji Kenji called out when Team Nine dropped down into the small clearing, really no more than a bare patch of dirt fifteen feet across where the nearby trees had sucked so much of the nutrients from the soil that nothing else could grow in the immediate vicinity.

"Hello to you too. You guys okay?" Naruto asked, face mask but not the tinted glasses back in place.

"We're fine. Haven't seen anybody yet. You?"

"Nope. You are the first people we have seen Sora-san."

"How are you guys on supplies? We brought enough rations to last us the week, and we have tents with us for tonight."

"We are fine. We can catch some food later, so you can save those rations for later, unless you really like them that much." Rations, no matter where they came from, were always nearly flavorless, taste and texture not wholly dissimilar to stale white bread. Nutritious, hell yeah, but blander food had yet to be discovered.

"I doubt the rations we are issued taste any better than yours Naruto-san."

"Probably," Naruto readily agreed. "Anyways, what scroll do you guys have?"

"Heaven," the heretofore silent Suki replied, drawing the scroll from a pocket that was presumably sewn on the inside of her kimono. "What scroll do you have?"

"Earth," Naruto replied, drawing out the decoy that he had created to fool anyone who managed to rummage through his coat. Tenten's relief at the fact that he hadn't told them that it wasn't the real deal was replaced by exasperation when he did.

"Clever," Suki replied, examining the faux scroll minutely.

"Well, it wasn't hard to duplicate. All it is, is the word 'earth' with a black border." Naruto slipped the scroll back into his coat when Suki was done inspecting it. "What do you guys want to do? I was planning on just combing the forest until we found a team with a heaven scroll, and then hiding out until the exam ended."

"We were going to wait until we met up with you before we formulated a plan, but your sounds like as good as any. With the Hyuuga's eyes, It should make things considerably quicker too."

"And I have my own way to speed it up." Naruto grinned widely and threw his hands in his signature technique, and cried "Mass Shadow Clone Technique!" Naruto dispersed the accompanying bank of ninja smoke with a quick Great Breakthrough, revealing somewhere in the ballpark of three or four hundred clones, and those were only the ones that they could see.

"How many clones did you make?" Sora asked.

"Eh, I put enough chakra in to make about a thousand clones."

Even Sora, who was a Jinchuuriki who was in harmony with her demon most of the time was impressed. A thousand shadow clones was no mean feat, even for her. She could probably match his accomplishment, but would be hard pressed not to draw on her demon to keep herself going afterward. Then again, Naruto did host the nine tailed beast, so he probably had somewhere around a couple hundred times as much chakra as she would, were they both to go for a complete transformation. And if his seal worked anything like hers did, his demon had been putting pressure on his chakra coils for most, if not all his life and had developed a chakra reserve to match.

"Well, blitzing the whole of the forest looking for teams and scrolls is one way of doing it also. Whatever, lets get going then. The longer we wait, the harder it will be to find a team with what we need." Nodding, the legion of Narutos vacated the immediate area. The combined Team Nine/Team Kiri set off in a direction more or less parallel with the boundary fence, planning to spiral in closer to the tower as they went. After three hours of fruitless searching, it became obvious that Naruto's plan of using his clones to increase their search speed had backfired. Seeing a thousand copies of the same ninja, no matter what kind, spoke volumes of said ninjas raw power. Ninja being ninja, if you ran into a foe that was so obviously more skilled, they ran like hell and got the fuck out-of-the-way of whoever could make that many clones.

They made camp as the sun was setting, Naruto setting three concentric rings of shadow clones as picket sentries, the first ring half a klick out, the second a quarter klick, and a third a hundred feet out. Tenten then proceeded to unseal a truly obscene amount of ninja hardware and use said hardware to turn the immediate area into a nightmare of spiked pitfalls, trip wires, falling logs, exploding tags, and other amazingly horrific ways to turn anyone who sought to disturb their sleep into little tiny bits of gore, if that much was left. While most of the traps were actually pretty basic, the sheer volume more than made up for their simplicity. One of the lessons that was taught in the Academy was that a ninja had to always expect something more, even the most experienced jounin didn't always keep an eye out for a falling log while in a spike pit where the walls and log were smothered in explosive tags. When dealing with threats, Tenten had always had a rule: kill it, kill it with fire.

Tenten turned to return back to the where the firepit had been dug under the roots of a tree that were thicker round then they were tall and plowed straight into Naruto. Her half-formed apology was smothered as his lips covered hers. Naruto pulled her hard against him, one hand resting on her posterior, the other at the nape of her neck. Tenten was slightly shocked at the roughness with which he crushed her against him, but offered no resistance, palms on his shoulders, pulling herself closer against him until she couldn't tell whose heart was thudding against her chest. She nearly stumbled when Naruto released her, swooning slightly from the intensity with which he had seized her with. Naruto was fortunately in full command of his body and held her against himself again.

"Maybe I should just keep you right here if you can't even stand up," he murmured.

"You-you're the one wh-who messed me up."

"And if it allows me to keep you like this for just a bit longer I think it was a very good idea."

Apparently Tenten thought it was a good idea too because she locked her arms around his neck and kissed him until the blood was thundering in her ears. Of course, Naruto was not to be out done. Sucking her lip in between his, he nibbled at it softly, causing Tenten to almost knock her forehead into his. Trailing soft, gentle nips and wet kisses from her lips down to her chin and up along her jawbone, Tenten wrapped her legs around Naruto's waist, Not minding in the least when she was slammed with moderate force into the trunk of a nearby tree. By now any thought that entered her brain was fragmented beyond recovery unless it was a thought stating how she could get him to keep doing what he was doing. They had only been dating for two months, give or take, but holy hell, he could kiss. That line of thought was interrupted by such a kiss, Naruto finally having made his way to her ear where he nipped her earlobe, causing her breath to hitch.

It really wasn't fair, Tenten thought when she could string a coherent thought together again. If there was any equality in the world, it would let her be able to make Naruto react in the same way that he was able to make her react. Tenten was not a control-freak, not at all, but it disturbed her feminist sensibilities at how quickly she lost control of her body. She always viewed herself as an independent, take-no-nonsense, reasonable woman, but hot damn if Naruto couldn't find just the right- and there he went again dammit. Whoever was in charge up there was going to have some explaining to do eventually.

"You suck," Tenten mumbled from where her face was buried in the crook of his neck.

"Aw, Tenten-chan, you say the nicest things."

She pulled her head back to look him in the eye and stuck her tongue out at him. Naruto just grinned wider. "Have I ever told you about what happened to the last guy I dated who was also a smartass?"

"Nope, but I don't think I have much to worry about. After all, all I have to do is this," he craned his head forward enough to play with her ear with his teeth, "and you forget about what we were talking about."

When her eyes finally came back into focus, she just sighed and headbutted him in the chest. Apparently, she headbutted him a little too hard, because she was quickly acquainted with the ground. Blinking away the tears that the smoke from the Naruto-clone's death, she grumbled."I should have known it was a clone. Even Naruto has more survival sense than that.

She wasn't sure exactly how long they had been making out, but the clones that Tenten had been supervising were gone and the sun was starting to set. Picking herself up from where she had landed and rubbing the bruise she could already feel forming on her rump, she returned to the camp proper seeing that the pork and veggie stew that Hinata had prepared from the direboars that Tenten had shot earlier and plants that Naruto had gathered while looking for scrolls.

The rest of the evening passed in relative peace, Tenten blaming the bruise on Naruto, as well as the number of hickeys his had left all over her neck. The Kiri ninja praised Hinata on her culinary skills, allowing the normally introverted girl (although that had changed a lot recently) a chance to preen. When she started to gather dishes and clean up after the meal, a pair of Naruto clones accosted her, one pinning Hinata's arms and the second removing the apron. Naruto clones made short work of the remains of their supper while Hinata was carted off into the forest for some privacy.

Using the same tactic he had used on Tenten, Naruto squashed Hinata's inquiry as to why he had pulled her away from the camp. The kiss was brief, but it set the tone for the conversation quite nicely. "Hey there Hinata-chan."

"Hello to you too," she murmured back. Naruto sat down with his back to a tree and placed Hinata crossways. Circling his hands around her torso, she snuggled into his chest. "What did you want Naruto-kun?"

"I just wanted some Hinata-time was all. We have barely had any time alone together, since Grass. You were kinda out of it on the way back, and when we got home, things were so hectic, between training with Kisuke-sensei and then preparing for the exam, I don't think I have even kissed you since the tavern in Grass."

"Well, that is easy enough to remedy then, isn't it?"

"I suppose so at that." Any further conversation was put on hold for a while as Hinata, unusually forward, tuned in his lap and pushed him off of the tree, pinning his prone form with hers. Slowly, Hinata lowered her mouth towards Naruto's and pressed them together. After a second, Hinata parted her lips to slip her tongue into Naruto's mouth. Exploring his mouth was terrifyingly thrilling, her heart rate skyrocketing from around fifty beats per minutes, to around eighty or ninety. The kiss remained slow and relatively tame, but to Hinata, this was absolutely daring. She was frenching a boy, hell, she was frenching freaking Naruto! Until very recently, she had never considered herself attractive, so the simple thought of doing something even as basic as kissing a boy was dangerous and exciting.

A great part of this was that she had been extremely sheltered for most her life. As the heiress to the clan, (precarious as her position was prior to her marriage,) her body was an object that her father defended vigorously. Even were she to be removed to the Branch House, she was still a Hyuuga and her virtue was not something to be traded away to just anyone. Even among the Branch House, a marriage outside the clan was difficult to achieve, having to pass scrutiny from the clan council. But that is another matter entirely, and one that is irrelevant to current events.

So, as inexperienced as she was in matters of the heart, even the most minor and inconsequential forms of displays of affection were wholly new and foreign to her. Eventually, she recognized an impending faint, so as fainting was the last thing she wanted to do right now, (meaning that losing consciousness would cut into her Naruto-time) she broke the kiss and laid her head down on his chest. Absently tracing his whisker marks, she was completely content to simply bask in the pleasure of Naruto's loving presence. Naruto in turn was playing with Hinata's hair, absently twirling it around his finger, creating knots that Hinata would have to comb out eventually, but really was a pleasant price to pay to have Naruto touch her.

OoOoO

The second day of the test passed much in the mold of the first, fruitless combing of the forest for anyone with a scroll. Once the shit hit the fan, everyone was wishing that they could go back to not finding anyone. The two teams had split up in order to try to cover more ground and all of a sudden, Team Nine was in the middle of a fight between an incredibly over matched Team Seven and some super freaky Grass ninja.

One of the worst fights that Naruto would ever be in started out as simple curiosity. Hearing sounds of combat, they naturally gravitated towards it. Unfortunately, it would soon prove to be far easier to get drawn into a fight with a Sannin than get out of one against a Sannin. Naruto saw the psycho Grass nin summon a fifty foot snake and then sic it on the Team Seven. Launching himself from high up on the branch where he had been watching thus far, he deflected the snake's lunge with a double fisted hammer punch with the full weight of his body behind it. His landing was somewhat less than optimal so it took him a moment to regain his feet and swayed slightly.

"You alright scaredy-cat?" Naruto taunted, looking up at a stunned Sasuke. Team Seven had not been present when Naruto had gone berserker on the samurai on the mission to Wave, so it took them a few seconds to register a red eyed, slit pupilled, whisker-scarred Naruto, his face mask put back into place and his glasses dropped in his kamikaze attack. "Where is the Sasuke I know? That Sasuke is no coward, able to be cowed by a mere look. Get your fucking shit TOGETHER or die." Naruto turned on the lone Grass nin and leveled an accusatory finger at him. "And who the hell are you?" Naruto was not able to place exactly what, but this guy freaked him out, so much so that he started drawing on the Kyuubi's chakra before he knew what he was doing. It wasn't much, not even a full tail's worth, but enough to mutate his face.

"Kukuku, just an admirer of the Uchiha over there. And who might you be?"

"Hyuuga Naruto, Genin of Konoha."

"A pleasure Naruto-kun. But if you don't mind, I have business with the Uchiha. If you could be so kind as to step aside, I will not occupy your time any more than I already have."

"Not a chance in hell, freak. You attacked a Konoha shinobi, and that means you get to deal with me too."

While Naruto had been occupying the snake summoner's attention, Hinata and Tenten landed on the ground by Team Seven.

"You guys okay?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, we are fine. A little shaken up, but basically unharmed," the pink haired kunoichi replied.

"Tenten-chan, Hinata-chan, we need to get out of here. You guys know me and how I always look forward to a good fight, but this guys is in a class all of his own. He was able to paralyze all three of us with only killing intent, as much as I hate to say."

That surprised Hinata and Tenten. Kiba was rather famous for never backing down from a challenge, and if Kiba advised they flee, he was probably on to something. But their conversation was interrupted by Naruto firing off a Wind Release: Pressure Bullet. And things only went downhill from there.

OoOoO

It was a long night for Teams Seven and Nine. Both Naruto and Sasuke were out cold, Sasuke from the three-tomoe tattoo that appeared where Orochimaru had bitten him, and Naruto from a punch in the gut. There had to be something more to it, Tenten surmised, as there was no way that Naruto was weak enough to be taken out by a single kidney shot. The fight had started up when Naruto fired a Pressure Bullet that exploded the branch that the Grass guy retreated to when Naruto laid out the snake. As soon as he landed on a second branch Tenten and Hinata fell on him, Hinata with a falling Inferno that burned clear through the tree limb. Tenten kept him hopping around by putting her guns to good use. She managed to kill a number of his earth clones, but never managed to spot the real one, if the original was ever there in the first place. She even upended the guy once by flipping an Earth Style Wall up from under him.

Nothing seemed to faze their collective opponent, not even when Naruto summoned a hundred shadow clones to swarm the snake guy. But no matter how Team Nine set them up, not a single hair on the guy's head was harmed. Even Sasuke, using the limited precognition his two-tomoe Sharingan afforded him to try to cut off the guy's escape routes and herd him into the attacks the others were throwing out, was unable to help much. Kiba came close to tagging him once or twice utilizing his Dual Piercing Fang.

As ineffective as it was, Tenten's strategy of hiding underground with the Underground Fish Technique and then using Shrieking Fang from there did seem to surprise the obviously not-a-genin genin. Finally Naruto resorted to using kamikaze clones, having them latch onto the guy and detonate with the Great Shadow Clone Explosion. But instead of seeing bad guy goo, they just saw him dissolve into mud.

Even Sakura had contributed to the fight in a not-insignificant manner. She had surprised the kunoichi element of Team Nine (Naruto being busy with Orochimaru didn't notice) by showing a drastically increased armed and unarmed taijutsu skill and actually using techniques not taught in the Academy, namely mud clones, Earth Release: Earth Flow River to try to trip the Sannin up and then Earth Release: Rising Stone Spears to try to skewer him when that failed.

Orochimaru only began to get serious when Naruto simply sent wave after wave of exploding clones at him, leveling everything in a thousand yard range. Then Naruto used some technique that not even Tenten or Hinata had seen, shooting a snake (a highly poisonous coral snake) from each sleeve. That just seemed to piss Orochimaru off. After punching him in the gut, he flung the now-passed out Naruto away like a piece of trash. After Naruto was put out of commission, there really wasn't anything else they could do. Orochimaru knocked Sasuke with a bite to the neck and left. Kiba, using the Beast Mimicry Technique, carried Sasuke and Naruto to where they could set up camp. Really the only good thing that came of the whole fiasco was that both teams finally had their scrolls, as Team Seven had a spare Heaven scroll that Team Nine needed and Orochimaru gave Team Seven the Earth scroll they needed.

Sakura and Kiba gave the shinigami trio looks when they unsealed then resealed their zanpakuto, first gaining then losing the black kimono and hakama costumes. Giving how tight-lipped their fellow Konoha-nin had been about their abilities back in Wave, neither Sakura or Kiba thought that they would be any more forthcoming about the strange powers they shared and said nothing.

Tenten went out and trapped the immediate area quite thoroughly while Hinata went searching through all the scrolls Naruto was carrying looking for the one that he had sealed the remains of the boar meat and stew into. Finally finding it after looking through a dozen scrolls, dinner was quickly prepared and devoured. The rest of the day and night passed, neither of the comatose boys showing any sign of rousing. About an hour after everyone had settled in there was a terrific noise outside. Everyone waited a few minutes for anything else to happen, but nothing did. Drawing a her two largest pistols from her belt, one in each hand, and going to check the traps, Tenten found Kaiyou Sora, Kenji Kenji and Yamoto Suki standing over three very dead Sound genin.

"Hey there Tenten-san. What happened to you? You look like you went ten rounds with a gorilla."

"Kaiyou-san, you would not believe me if I told you. Come on. Let's get under cover." Team Seven (the conscious members) drew weapons when the three foreign ninja came into sight. Tenten waved them down so Kiba and Sakura relaxed as Sora introduced themselves as "associates" of Naruto's.

Looking over Sakura and Kiba, who were looking at least as bad as Tenten and Hinata, as well as the two boys, Sora blurted, "who the hell did you run into?"

The four Konoha genin exchanged a glance before Sakura answered. "How much do you know of the Sannin?"

Sora gave the rosette an odd look before answering. "About what everyone not from Konoha knows, I suppose. Three of the strongest ninja to ever come out of Konoha, Orochimaru the White Snake, Jiraiya the Toad Sage and Tsunade the Slug Princess. All three eventually left Konoha, none have been seen in Konoha in close to two decades. But what do they have to do with anything? You run into Orochimaru or something?"

"Yeah actually."

That caused all three Kiri ninja to do a double take. "Seriously? Orochimaru, the S-rank missing-nin Orochimaru? How are you not dead?" Kenji asked.

"He wasn't here to kill anyone, I don't think. He was here for Sasuke. He performed some technique that lengthened his neck, allowing him to bite Sasuke on the neck. He has been out ever since. He doesn't seem to have any sort of head or neck injury and his vitals are stable, be we haven't been able to wake him up."

"What about Naruto?"

"We aren't sure. Naruto went berserk and eventually pissed Orochimaru off enough that he pale-faced bastard punched him in the gut and knocked him out. Pretty much in the same state as Sasuke, no obvious injuries, stable but comatose."

"Was it a punch, or did the guy use a jutsu on him?"

The Konoha genin looked around but no one could be sure. All they had seen was Naruto get snatched up with the freak's tongue and Orochimaru's hand slam into Naruto's gut.

"What about his appearance? Did he look any different than normal? Different colored eyes, longer teeth? Whisker scars grow bigger maybe?"

"Yeah, all of those. How did you know that?"

"Naruto and I... Well, we bear a similar curse. At any rate, I can't do anything for the Uchiha, but I may be able help Naruto." Kiba and Sakura seemed a little suspicious of this ninja claiming that she could help Naruto, (especially when she kept dodging the question of what "curse" they shared,) but Tenten and Hinata did not seem to have a problem with it. "A couple of things though. When I start, nobody is to touch me, no matter what. I have an idea of what _could _be wrong with him, but right now it is only a suspicion. I want everyone to stay at least ten feet back. This could be dangerous, so be warned."

Sasuke was dragged away from Naruto and everyone not Sora or Naruto formed a semicircle to observe the blond kunoichi in action. Naruto's coat had already been removed by Hinata so she could search for the food earlier and was now rolled up to serve as a pillow. Sora pulled his shirt up to expose his stomach. She nodded when the bare skin was revealed as if she had been expecting something, but what she had feared was not present. Seating herself at his head, Sora leaned over, peeled Naruto's eyes open and stared into them.

OoOoO

**Naruto's Mindscape**

Arriving in Naruto's mindscape was not the most pleasant experience that Sora ever had. She appeared to be in a huge sewer, but one completely drained. As she made her way forward, Sora ignored all the branches she came across, keeping her eyes focused straight ahead. It didn't matter which way she went, in a Jinchuuriki's mind, all paths led to the demon. A timeless span of time later, she arrived at the mental representation of the seal, a sleeping Naruto laid out in front of it.

Two thoughts ran through her head when the bars of the seal came into sight. The first was '_a little crude, but effective nonetheless I suppose,' _and the second was _'oh crap.' _Even a neophyte such as her was able to recognize Orochimaru's tampering of the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style seal. Normally there was just a single seal on the center of the bars of the cage, that was obvious. What was even more obvious were the five seals attached to the bars around the main seal. The main, original seal was written on high-quality, fine-textured paper, the script of the seal in a smooth, flowing hand. The five secondary seals were on much lower quality material, edges ragged and penmanship resembling that of a child still learning to write.

Sora's suspicions were confirmed now that she was able to see the representation of the seal. Naruto had been drawing on the Kyuubi's chakra, so when Orochimaru slapped his Five Elements Seal on him, it cut the flow of chakra coming from behind the bars. It was not dissimilar to having all the air in a room removed between one breath and the next, the body wants to inhale, but there is nothing to inhale. The shock of drawing on chakra that was no longer accessible created a strain on his chakra circulatory system was so great that the body shut down to protect itself.

She checked Naruto's vitals, and finding them stable did not disturb his rest. His unconsciousness was a defense mechanism, and rousing him out of it prematurely would do more harm than good. There was nothing she could do to even start dismantling the secondary seal that would not threaten Naruto's wellbeing. He would eventually awaken, so she left. Sitting back up in the real world she shook her head in a negative, causing everyone to approach her.

"What happened?" Tenten and Hinata asked simultaneously.

"Orochimaru tampered with his 'secondary' chakra source. Naruto-san will awake eventually, but I cannot say with any authority when."

"Wait, secondary chakra source? What do you mean by that? People only have one kind of chakra, not two." Kiba interrupted.

"If you do not know what I am talking about, then it is obvious that Naruto has not entrusted you with his secret. I will not break his confidence by revealing it to you when he has not seen fit to do so himself."

A watch rotation was established so everyone began setting up for the night. Naruto finally signs of rousing somewhere just before dawn. Hinata had been chosen to hold the last watch, her Byakugan giving her the greatest chance of detecting any hostile ninja who mounted a predawn attack. When Naruto began groaning, she whirled and rushed to his side. Hinata helped him sit up and slide back to sit against a large root.

"How are you feeling Naruto-kun?"

"Achy. But otherwise okay. What happened when I was out? Last thing I remember was that guy punching me in the gut."

"Well, we ended up losing the fight. The guy was Orochimaru, the missing-nin. He bit Sasuke-san on the neck, knocked him out and ran off. We were able to get the two of you under cover and set up camp. Sora-san and her teammate finally turned back up also, by the way. She said that she was going to try to help you, but wasn't able to do anything. And that is about it." Naruto nodded, and laboriously levered himself up from his seated position. Leading Hinata outside, he saw the corpses of the three Sound genin laid out side-by-side.

"Who are they?" Naruto asked pointing at the bodies.

"Oh, Sora-san said they were hiding in the undergrowth, looking for a chance to ambush us. Sora and her teammates killed them."

"I don't have any scrolls to seal their whole bodies. But I have some that are big enough for their heads. What did you do with my coat?"

"Oh, it is back under the tree. I had to look for the scroll that you sealed the food in." Naruto exited the depression a minute later holding a scroll about as long as his forearm. Unrolling it, he drew his zanpakuto and awkwardly cut the heads off. Sealing the heads in the aforementioned scroll, he pocketed the scroll. Forming the unique cross seal to perform the Shadow Clone Technique, Naruto scrunched up his face, feeling an abnormal resistance to the technique, he gathered all the chakra he could and rammed it into the jutsu. When the smoke dissipated, a hundred fifty clones were looking back. They dispersed quickly to set up a sentry perimeter around the camp.

Hinata put a hand on his shoulder in concern. "What is wrong Naruto-kun?"

Speaking in between gulping huge breaths, he said "I don't know. Something is interfering with my chakra flow. I used enough chakra to create three times that many clones. It is like I have the control I pretended to have back in the Academy. Let me try something else." Forming the snake and tiger seals, Naruto thrust both hands out towards the forest flinging two half-matured garter snakes into a tree. Again he had to force too much chakra to too little effect. Staring at his hands in shock, he turned to Hinata.

Grabbing a blank scroll and a pen, he handed both to Hinata and told her "hey, do me a favor and draw what you see on this scroll for me." Pulling his shirt off and dropping it on the ground, he closed his eyes and formed the ram seal, increasing the flow of his chakra throughout his body, flexing his metaphysical muscles. Hinata's eyes widened when she saw the Dead Demon Consuming Seal darkened over his hara. Quickly copying the design onto the paper she pushed it over to Naruto when she was done.

Releasing his breath, Naruto lowered his hands to examine the seal Hinata had copied for him. Hinata let him frown at the design and mutter to himself for a minute before she spoke. "So do you know what is wrong Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah, that snake-faced bastard Orochimaru fucked up my seal. See here, this is what is supposed to be here," Naruto pointed to the swirl surrounded by the two sets of four symbols that made the two Four Symbols Seals that composed the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style. "These five symbols here," Naruto pointed at the swirls interposed between the original eight, "are what Orochimaru added. By overlapping an even-numbered seal with an odd-numbered one, he has screwed up my natural chakra flow. Plus I don't think I would be able to draw on the Kyuubi's chakra with this thing on."

"What does the number have to do with how it affects your chakra?"

Naruto thought that over for a moment before answering. "Overlapping two opposite-number seals is comparable to trying to perform a jutsu with the wrong hand seals. Theoretically, it _is _possible, but you are going to have to spend much more chakra and focus much harder to get it to work. And even then, it is more likely to explode in your face rather than actually do something useful. Each of the individual subseals that make up the Four Symbol Seals acts as a pathway for my chakra to flow through. The odd-number seal acts as a second set of paths for my chakra to pass through. So in addition to adding to the natural resistance that chakra will encounter doing anything, the paths are misaligned, connected slightly off-center, the effect almost identical to a clogged artery. The chakra can pass through, obviously, but the narrowed 'vein' slows the flow."

"So do you think you can fix it yourself?"

"Unlikely. I would have to know what elements Orochimaru used to seal me to use the diametrically opposite element to cancel them out. I would have to get all five correct, or else I would just place another Five Element Seal on myself, further screwing my already screwed-up control. Also, I can't do the Five Element Unseal." Grinning sheepishly, he scratched the back of his head in a tic.

"Why can you not perform the Five Element Unseal?"

"Well, the thing is, the Five Element Seal and Unseal don't use all of the traditional five elements, using metal and wood in place of wind and lightning. To perform either technique, you have to know two things: one, how to create elemental chakra and how to channel a different elemental chakra to each finger. I will just have to deal with the effects until I can talk to Jiraiya. Hopefully he will have a solution."

"Wait, did you say wood and metal chakra? Everyone has heard of wood chakra, exclusive to the Shodai Hokage, but metal chakra?"

"Ah, it is a little complicated. The thing is, sealing does not follow the same set of rules that the ninja arts do. Oftentimes, a term will have two different, wholly unrelated uses depending if you are using the term as it relates to ninja arts or sealing. Chakra is no exception. Rarely, if ever, will a specific type of chakra have an inherent ability or effect, unlike chakra in ninja arts. Actually, saying 'a specific type of chakra' is misleading. In sealing, you never use anything but neutral chakra, the chakra that you use in non-elemental techniques. And come to think of it, even chakra does not always mean chakra in the traditional sense.

"While a seal may create elemental chakra as the end result, you will never input elemental chakra to power a seal. And while there are a few standardized seals, by and large, chakra and the physical composition of the seal are secondary concerns next to intent. That is not to say that the way a seal is drawn is unimportant, just that intent is more important. For example, almost everyone will draw an exploding tag seal the same way, but you will rarely find two people who draw anything else the same." Hinata blinked blankly, clearly not understanding. Naruto sighed. "Basically what I am saying is that in the ninja arts, any term will almost invariably represent a physical object or effect, in this case wood chakra equals the type of chakra created by the Shodai's Bloodline, where in sealing, a term represents an idea, or concept, like wood chakra is not actually the Shodai's special elemental chakra, but the representation of the idea of life, nature, reincarnation, stuff like that. The end result is that wood chakra in sealing is not the same as wood chakra in ninja techniques."

"Confusing and seemingly unnecessarily complicated, but I think I get the gist of it."

"Trust me, you haven't the least idea. There isn't a single rule in sealing that does not have a dozen exceptions. As I am quickly finding out, there is a damned good reason why almost nobody goes into sealing. And that is that you have to have an almost encyclopedic memory for this crap. Given the difficulty of this stuff, the fact that my father was called a genius is frankly mind-boggling. How anyone can spare any time away from memorizing rules to create anything new is a minor miracle in and of itself in my opinion."

Hinata giggled at his description, but did not doubt him if his explanation of the difference of sealing and ninja chakra was anything to go by, "But what if Jiraiya-sama can't unseal you?"

"I am sure he can. He knows more about seals than anyone else in the world. If he can't unseal me, well, I am sure I will be able to get my control back to where it should be eventually. Besides, while Orochimaru is a genius when it comes to ninjutsu, sealing is not his specialty, and is Ero-sennin's."

Tearing the portion of the scroll that Hinata had inscribed the Dead Demon Consuming Seal on, he walked to the fire, breathing a smoldering piece of wood back to life, he carefully incinerated the scrap of paper, mixing the ashes into the remains of the fire. "You can never be too careful. Don't want that seal falling into the wrong hands, for multiple reasons."

As he finished destroying the seal, a grunt came from the cave, followed by a pained groan. Exchanging a lightning glance, the two dashed back into the cave to see Sasuke twisting in pain. Hinata rushed to his side while Naruto roused the others. Sakura bolted upright when Naruto tapped her shoulder, as did Kiba, but he had to dodge a clumsy, heavy-handed swat also.

"What is happening to Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked no one in particular.

Hinata activated her bloodline eyes and examined Sasuke's chakra flow. Pulling aside his collar, she went white at what she saw. "What? What is going on?"

"That is a seal, it... It is turning Sasuke-san's own chakra against himself. It is killing him."

"Can you do anything for him? Do something to his tenketsu or something?" Kiba asked.

"I dare not. The way his chakra is in flux, interfering with the flow would be lethal for certain. As it is, he may pull through, but it is a matter of his will."

But as soon as she said that, Sasuke quieted, before the three tomoe on his neck exploded, vaguely flame-like black markings quickly flowing over his right arm and half his face. Leaping up to his feet, his chakra acquired a sinister feel to it, a change that leaked into his face and eyes. Panting slightly, as if from light exertion or anticipation of something, Sasuke's Sharingan eyes quickly swept over his surroundings, searching for some threat. Squeaking loudly, Hinata's hands flickered and struck Sasuke eight times in the time it took to register the fact.

Sasuke tensed his whole body, arching backwards as the flame tattoos retreated as swiftly as they advanced before he collapsed to the earth in a boneless heap, groaning in surprise. Hinata's face flamed like a tomato when everyone looked at her. "What the hell was that?" Kiba thought aloud, whether he meant Sasuke's transformation or Hinata's reaction was uncertain. Instead of answering, Hinata knelt over the slowly flopping Sasuke and released his tenketsu.

When Sasuke was able to speak again, he grabbed the front of Hinata's shirt and slammed her against the wall. "Don't you _ever_ do anything like that again," he snarled causing Hinata to squeak again. But before he could actually strike the girl, Naruto broke the hold he had on Hinata and threw him over his shoulder to the ground.

Stopping a fist right before he broke the Uchiha's nose, Naruto lowered his face to within an inch of Sasuke's. "_You _don't ever touch my wife like that. If you ever strike her outside a sanctioned fight, I will break your face. Maybe then you won't have reason to whine about all your fan girls. Okay?" Sasuke just glowered. Naruto whiffed with his punch, but caught him across the mouth with the follow up elbow. "I said you are never to touch Hinata-chan or Tenten-chan without their permission. _Okay?" _Slowly Sasuke nodded, turning to spit blood as Naruto let him up. Nobody said a word as he turned to the rest of the group. "Now, I am sure that there was a reason that Hinata reacted like that. Why did you react like that Hinata-chan?"

"That chakra, it was unnatural, evil. I just reacted without thinking. Sorry Sasuke-san. I did not mean hurt you. It was instinctive."

"Yes, well, just don't do it again." Sasuke looked away, surreptitiously rubbing his throat.

Naruto stood up and spoke. "Sora-san, did your team get the scroll you needed?"

"Yeah. We ran into a couple of corpses that had been crushed by something. Whatever killed them, it didn't look through their packs, because they had a complete set of scrolls on them."

"Good. Orochimaru kindly left us a complete set also, so everyone has the scrolls they need to pass. We still have two days before the exam ends, so as long as we are careful and stick together we should be safe. I don't think that there will be many people willing to challenge three teams together."

Nobody disagreed, so the nine genin spent the next two days under cover, completely undisturbed. Anyone who stumbled over their camp left without challenging them, discouraged by either the fortress-like defenses that had been erected or number of potential combatants. Three-to-one were never good odds.

On the fifth and final day of the test, everyone collected all their possessions, tore down the traps and started to the tower at noon. They slowed down once the tower was in sight, wary for ambushes and traps. While the numbers were in their favor, there was the possibility that there were teams that had not been able to get their hands on the scroll they required and would try to steal theirs. Checking the time, Naruto signaled for the group to go to ground.

"Well, the tower will not open until four o'clock, in another two hours. We will remain here and wait until it is safe to approach the tower. I don't need to remind anyone not to wander off. We are close to the end. Let us not get sloppy and screw up when the end is in sight."

Nodding, everyone spread out to find a comfortable place to secrete themselves and remain in sight of at least one other periodically scanned the area with her Byakugan, signaling Naruto who passed the message along when the doors to the tower were opened. Rushing towards the portals, Naruto held his breath, anticipating kunai and shuriken to come raining down at any moment. He relaxed once everyone was safely inside though.

The room they entered was about fifty feet to a side, with a pair of balconies opposite each other on the left and right walls. On the wall in front of the group was a poster that had an incomplete poem, missing the words "Heaven" and "Earth."

"Well I think it is obvious that this is the part where we open the scrolls up now." Unsealing the pair of scrolls from the mislabeled storage scroll, Naruto unrolled the two scrolls. Leaping back as they started spewing smoke, he grinned when he scarred visage of one Umino Iruka emerged.

"Hey there Iruka-sensei!" he shouted to his ex-sensei.

"Hey there Naruto-kun. And Sasuke-kun. And some Kiri-nin?" Iruka had not expected when he was summoned to be greeting three teams completing the test simultaneously. "What is up?"

"Uh, well, it's kind of a long story," Naruto admitted. "Short version is we teamed up with Sora-chan's team," he pointed to the blond kunoichi, "from the beginning and stumbled over Sasuke-teme's team when they were in the middle of a fight. We decided that there was safety in numbers and stayed together."

"I see. Well, before I continue, open your scrolls to prove they are authentic." After getting summoned twice more, he continued. "Well congratulations on all nine of you passing. The poster behind me is the motto of the chunin, with the words 'heaven' and 'earth' removed to serve as a hint for you to open the scrolls. It says, 'If you lack heaven, seek wisdom, be prepared. Gain knowledge and prepare yourself for the missions. If you lack earth, run in the fields, seek advantages. If you lack neither, there is nothing beyond your abilities.' Basically it is saying that if your weakness is in the brain, like say, Kiba," (Kiba growled at this,) "then study up so that it is not a weakness. If you do not have much stamina, like Sakura, then you must continue to train hard until you have more stamina. If you have both, like me," (eliciting laughter from his former students) "there is not a dangerous mission for you.

"This test was to see if you possessed the strength to be a chunin. The chunin are the platoon captains and small team leaders, so they must have the ability to lead from the front, as well as plan from the rear. Your challenge is to step into this motto and make it yours. That is all I have to pass on to you." Iruka turned to leave, but looked back. "A final word of warning: don't lower your guard at all, it only gets more dangerous from here on out."


	17. Preliminaries

**Inner Hollow speech**

Normal speech

**Chapter Seventeen: Preliminaries**

The three teams split up once Iruka left, using the short time until the start of the Final Examination. They were able to wolf down a quick meal and give proper care to their injuries. Everyone looked up at the ceiling when a male voice sounded from the speakers built into the tiles. "All Chunin Examinees, please report to the central chamber for the start of the Third Exam." Looking at one another, they rushed to gear up and get to the room where they had entered the tower.

Once again covered up head to foot, Naruto and the two girls counted seven teams in the room, counting themselves. Standing before the assembled genin was the Hokage, flanked by the first two exam proctors and the varied jounin-sensei lined up behind him.

The Hokage cleared his throat and spoke to the group of genin. "Congratulations on everyone here passing the Second Exam. I will explain the Third Exam in a moment, but before I do so, I would like to give the true reasons for the administration of the Chunin Exam. While the public reasons are to promote peace and friendship among the allied countries and to raise the level of shinobi, these are nothing but a facade for the true reasons. Do not be fooled, these exams are nothing more than a replacement for open warfare among the allied countries. If you were to go back twenty years, you would find a world where alliances were worth less than the paper and ribbons they were signed on. In order to prevent wasteful fighting, the Chunin Selections Examinations were created.

"While these tests do decide who among you are deserving of promotion, these tests serve yet another purpose. Each one of you are here to prove the strength of your country. The stronger shinobi a country has, the higher its prestige becomes, enabling it to charge more per mission and therefor receive more missions. If a country proves itself to be weak by entering weak ninja, they will consequently lose clients. The strength of a country is based in its ninja, and the true strength of a ninja only comes out in mortal combat. Now I will turn the rest of the speaking over to the Third Exam proctor, Gekko Hayate."

A sickly jounin landed in front of the Hokage. "Hello everyone, I am the third proctor, Gekko Hayate. But before we move on to the last exam, there is something else we need to do. There will be many important citizens in attendance, including daimyos and village leaders, and their time is limited. So, there will be only a select few people allowed to fight in front of them. These people will be selected by a series of single-elimination, one-on-one fights. Anyone who feels they are not up to the challenge should quit now. From this point one, you are all fighting for yourselves, so your disqualification will not affect your teammates."

Having made it this far, most thought that was a stupid question, after all, who would give up with the end in sight? However, Kabuto, the seven, now eight time veteran, raised his hand. "I am sorry proctor, but I used too much chakra trying to get through the forest. I seriously doubt that I could make it to the finals without getting seriously hurt."

"Well, if you say so Kabuto-san. There is no dishonor from avoiding a fight that you know you are going to lose."

"Is there anyone else who wishes to withdraw?" Nobody did, so he continued. "The preliminary matches will consist of ten one-on-one, individual matches. That means from this point on, you are fighting only for yourself. These matches are no-holds-barred, ending only when one combatant, is rendered unconscious, incapacitated, dead, or I say so. That being said, do not rely on me to end a match soon enough. If you feel that you are overmatched, admit defeat quickly.

"Now, the matches will start immediately, so let's show the object of fate." As he said that, a section of the paneling above the giant hand seal withdrew, revealing an electronic score board. "Each of your names have been entered into the board, to be shuffled and matched up randomly. The winners of the ten matches will proceed to the finals, so fight hard. First up is Nara Shikamaru of Konoha and Yamanaka Ino of Konoha. Will everyone but the named competitors please retreat to the balconies."

Once Hayate, Ino and Shikamaru were the only ones remaining on the ground floor, Hayate dropped his had, shouting "First Match: START!" and quickly got the hell out of the way, lest he be caught up in some right off the bat action.

"You know that you are too lazy to win this fight Shikamaru. Plus I already know all your trick from training as kids, so you might as well give up now."

"I would if I wouldn't get more grief than even I can deal with from my parents. And besides, the future is not set in stone."

"Hmph. Whatever. Let's just get going already." Following her words with actions, Ino hurled three kunai at Shikamaru, forcing him to dive to one side. Coming out of the dive in a crouch, he dodged another barrage of kunai. Throwing his hands together, he created five dust clones. The three Shikamarus split up, one going left, one right, and the third staying in the middle. Once Ino was in the center of the half dozen Shikamarus, they started circling the blond woman. Tensing in anticipation of a shuriken barrage, she frowned as the clones just kept running around.

Ino had known Shikamaru for years, and was well aware of his genius. So she was understandably wary when Shikamaru didn't attack, sensing a trick or trap of some kind, not incorrectly. So when Shikamaru and his clones started to close the ring, she tried to leap out of the tightening noose. However, Shikamaru was not willing to let her escape so easily. The clones broke the holding pattern that they had been maintaining, going directly for the girl.

Slashing with a reversed kunai, she only narrowed her eyes when the first three clone dissolved into smoke. Jumping over the remaining three clones, Ino formed the pair of seals for her clan's signature technique and targeted what she hoped was the real Shikamaru. Her spirit flew out of her body to inhabit a clone. The clone's fragile chakra matrix collapsed when she entered it, sending her spirit right back to her body. But she knew she had gambled and lost as she saw a Shikamaru forming the final seal in the Shadow Imitation Technique.

Ino reentered her body only a heartbeat after Shikamaru's shadow connected with hers. She felt her body be forced into the slouch that Shikamaru held himself in. Ino applied every fiber of her will to resisting the urge to raise her hand to signal her defeat. Given the way that Shikamaru was trembling to hold the technique, all she had to do was outlast him, and she should be good.

After a few moments of Shikamaru struggling to raise his hand, she felt the mental pressure shift on her arms in the opposite direction in a flash. She was only able to watch in horror as Shikamaru used her downward resistance to snag her fingers on the hem of her shirt, to the absolute shock of everyone watching, rip her shirt off, revealing a pair of very nice breasts. Ino's cheeks were flooded with blood, her embarrassment causing her control to slip for a critical moment, letting Shikamaru make her tap out.

Shikamaru released his control as soon as she did, allowing her to use her arms to try to preserve whatever modesty remained to her.

"You bastard," she growled at the other ninja.

"Sorry Ino-chan. At least this way I didn't actually have to hit a girl." Hayate belatedly called the match, letting Ino run into the attached infirmary to find something to cover herself up with.

The board whizzed through pictures of the testees again, settling on "Sabaku no Gaara of Suna and Yamoto Suki of Kiri, please come down!"

The named ninja did so and set themselves for combat. Hayate started the match, jumping out the way quickly again. Suki set the tone for the fight quickly, testing her opposites defenses. To any other observer, Suki and Gaara just tried to stare each other down, but to Gaara, the black haired woman slunk her way over to him. When she came within arm's reach, Suki bent down to look Gaara in the eye, incidentally giving him an eyeful of cleavage.

"Hello there Gaara-_kun,_" Suki greeted, drawing the honorific into a drawl. "I am Suki-chan." However, that was as far as she got before Gaara's sand covered her in the Desert Coffin, contracting to reduce the Kiri kunoichi to a red paste. Gaara turned to return to the balcony, dissatisfied at the ease of which he had killed the woman, only to feel her hug him from behind. Suki put her mouth to Gaara's ear and whispered, "now that wasn't a very nice thing to do Gaara-kun. I barely got to introduce myself before you killed me. It is only polite to let a person tell you their name before you kill them, wouldn't you agree?"

Gaara whirled in surprise and thrust a hand out, once again capturing and killing the woman. But when she just appeared behind him a third time, he narrowed his eyes in realization. "Genjutsu. That is the only way that you could have survived my Desert Coffin." Raising his hands in a seal, Gaara focused and muttered "kai," freeing himself from the illusion.

Refocusing on his opponent, Gaara flung an arm out directing his sand to attack Suki. Eyes widening in panic, her hands blurred through three seals and spat a stream of water that quickly widened into a wall, blocking Gaara's sand. Some of the wet and clumpy sand made it through though the water had slowed it down enough that Suki was able to avoid it.

The battle progressed in this manner for some time, Suki tying down more and more of Gaara's sand by using a startling variety of water techniques to weigh the stuff down. But the effort was telling, and by the time that she had started getting the odd shot through his Shield of Sand she was panting and was not moving as fast as she did at the beginning of the match. She had to constantly remain on the move, because while the wet sand was sluggish, that made it no less dangerous should it get on her.

Suki stared in shock and resignation as Gaara recalled all his wet sand back to himself and dried it out by compacting it into sandstone.

Dammit dammit dammit. She was an infiltration and assassination specialist, not a heavy combat specialist. She had only needed another two minutes before she would have been able to disable the guy completely, but she simply did not have the chakra reserves for this kind of fight. Resigning herself to the fact, Suki raised her hand and said "proctor, there is no way I can win. I forfeit."

Hayate nodded. He had been monitoring the girls chakra levels throughout the fight and knew that she had enough chakra for maybe another four or five techniques, less depending on the chakra required. "Winner: Sabaku no Gaara."

OoOoO

"Third Match: Hyuuga Hinata of Konoha versus Hyuuga Neji of Konoha!

"What an unexpected pleasure, to face you in sanctioned combat, Hinata-sama. But as a Branch House member, I feel it is my obligation to offer you at least one chance to forfeit. You have changed some recently, but you are still my inferior. No matter how much you may wish it, there is no way that you have gained enough skill to defeat me. Your fate was determined at birth, and no matter how hard you struggle, you will never be able to change. So I say for the last time, forfeit now and I will not be forced to harm you."

"Neji-nii-san, I cannot do that. I have decided to become someone that Naruto-kun can be proud of, and to gain strength so that I don't have to rely on his. This has become my way of the ninja, and like Naruto-kun, I have resolved to follow my words with an iron will. So we fight."

"So be it. Just keep in mind that I cannot be held accountable for what follows." Neji barely paused long enough to activate his Byakugan before he was on Hinata. Hinata had already triggered her own eyes, as she well knew the speed with which Neji could activate his. Neji was on her almost before the last word was out of his mouth. Hinata winced as she felt Neji connect with his Jyuuken, but was able to prevent him from dealing any crippling blows. Hinata knew that she would never be able to outmatch Neji in Jyuuken, but it was all she could do to keep him from shutting down her main tenketsu. Her arms were stinging with the couple of hits that he had landed despite all of her efforts otherwise.

Finally, she was able to break Neji's attack routine by deflecting a two-fingered strike targeted at a tenketsu on the side of her neck that would hamper all chakra going to her left hand. Bounding away with several backflips, Hinata tried to catch her breath. Neji seemed content to use the opportunity to continue to taunt Hinata some more. "As I said before, no matter how much you have trained, no matter how much you have changed, it will never be enough."

Up in the balcony, people were starting to edge away from Naruto. He was gripping the balcony rail so tightly that he drove all the blood from his hands, turning them white. The snarl that was quietly bubbling up from his gut had an animal quality to it that unnerved even the veteran jounin, causing some of the foreigners to plan the best way to escape from the tower should he lose the tenuous hold he had on his temper. Naruto yearned to scream at the arrogant bastard that Hinata was _not _weak, that anyone could change themselves if they wished for it enough, but recognized that this was a fight that Hinata had to win for herself, and would not appreciate his interference.

Meanwhile down in the arena, Hinata took the chance to draw her rapier zanpakuto and settled in a stance that looked like an altered Jyuuken stance. Neji just smirked.

Hinata leaped forward, tip of Minazuki rending the loose jacket that Neji wore, but missed flesh. Neji was forced to take the fight a little more seriously, especially because Hinata, knowing that she could not beat him at close-quarters, was keeping him well out of arms reach.

Neji pirouetted away from a long thrust, accepting a stinging cut along his back aiming a Jyuuken strike at Hinata's heart on the far side of the twirl, which Hinata evaded by turning her thrust into a rolling lunge, passing under his outstretched arm. When she returned to her feet at Neji's back Hinata quickly released her shikai, freeing her hands to form the three seals for Fire Release: Inferno. When she had expended her breath, she saw that Neji had evaded her blast of fire by sticking to the underside of one of the balconies.

"You are a Hyuuga, yet you have to fall back to using a Fire Release technique? Just more proof that you are unworthy of the title of heiress." Summoning every iota of speed he possessed, Neji was face-to-face with Hinata, noses nearly touching. "So this is the ability that you have become so proud of? Well, what happens when I take that from you too?"

Hinata was stunned by the lightning speed with which Neji had used that she could couldn't react until Neji had curled his fingers around the inside of Minazuki and tore it from her skin.

The scream that was ripped from Hinata's throat sent chills down everyone's back as she collapsed to her knees clutching her chest. Eventually the scream died out but Hinata did not rise, continuing to pant and claw at her chest.

"Call it Proctor-san. Hinata-sama has lost." Hayate looked between the upright Neji and the curled up Hinata and was about to agree, but the words froze in his throat when Hinata's aura changed.

Every gaze was riveted to the hunched over Hinata as malice so thick one could choke on it poured from the black-haired woman. Hinata removed the face mask and glasses, revealing mutated eyes. The white sclera had turned a shade that made black look pale in comparison, and her iris had shifted to a sickly yellow. **"Neji-nii-san, you're fucked."** And Neji was not inclined to disagree. The voice that came from behind that seemingly innocent mask bore no resemblance to Hinata's natural tone and timbre, being halfway between a gutteral growl and insane scream.

And for the first time in the fight, Neji found himself truly on the defense. Hinata had thrown herself headlong toward her reverted zanpakuto, cradling it lovingly for a pair of seconds before unleashing her rage on Neji. Whoever this was, she bore no resemblance to Hinata, beyond the superficial. Her entire style of combat shifted, abandoning any pretense of defense, ignoring any blow that Neji managed to land on her, attacking with wild abandon. An insane laugh bubbled up from her throat as she threw Neji back time and time again, desperately avoiding that devastating blade.

"**Where is all that arrogance you were showing earlier Neji-nii-san? Where is that strength? Weren't you just saying that I could never beat you, no matter how I tried? Weren't you just saying that I could never change? Huh? Well aren't you going to ANSWER ME!"** The last two words came out in a throat-rending scream as she mercilessly cut and slashed at her cousin. Neji was wondering what the hell was going on, what had happened to cause such a radical shift in personality. He began to resort to ever more desperate maneuvers to dodge her attacks. Even so, the other-Hinata was even more than he could handle. He jerked his head out of the way of a thrust, opening his cheek to the bone instead of losing an eye, but her downward slash caught him completely off guard, digging a trench into his shoulder, slicing through skin and muscle. Apparently Hinata had activated some sort of Raiton jutsu at some point because along with the cutting pain, the muscles in his whole left side jerked from the electrical charge that her sword carried. Stars dancing in his eyes, he still managed to connect with a sloppy Jyuuken strike to her kidney with his opposite hand, Hinata shrugging it off despite the muscle-locking agony the attack was supposed to induce.

But as he continued to run from his berserking cousin, he developed a plan. He doubted his sensei would be pleased, but the situation was rapidly spiraling out of control. Hinata was honestly striking to kill, and she only seemed to get stronger as time progressed, somehow linked to the strangely chilling mask that seemed to materialize out of nowhere, slowly covering more of her face.

The other-Hinata was not limiting herself to kenjutsu and taijutsu either. She made liberal use of a technique that allowed her to shoot bolts of lightning out of her fist, as well as using the fire-breathing jutsu again. That lightning-shooting jutsu hurt like a sonovabitch the one time he got tagged by it. After that he made sure to stay way the hell away from that. He almost lost his head to the follow up slash, but his legs chose a good time to fail, and so only lost a foot of his hair, instead his whole head.

The other-Hinata's relentless assault was stopped as abruptly as it began before Neji could do a single thing. Neji had just body flickered away from a two-handed chop that would have splattered his brains all over the floor when Hinata halted. He listened in shock as Hinata, the Hinata he and everyone else know seemed to be arguing with the second berserker personality, voice shifting as the two personalities vied for control.

"Stop interfering in my fight!"

"**What the hell are you talking about? You are the one that is interfering!"**

"Dammit dammit dammit, get out of my body!"

"**Come on, just let me keep fighting. We are winning, can't you see that?"**

"I don't care. I will not allow you harm my FAMILY!" And with a surge of effort, Hinata tore the mask from over the left side of her face, what seemed to be darkness solidified covering the part of her face where the mask had been, thin tendrils extending to the back side of the mask, melting away as the mask shattered in Hinata's grip.

"Sorry about that Neji-nii-san. Where were we before we were interrupted?"

Whatever had happened, Neji was not stupid enough to not take advantage of Hinata's new weakness. Rushing forward, Neji was able to regain the upper hand in the fight. Whatever had happened with the mask and the other-Hinata, the strength she had displayed was entirely gone. He was able to recover his arrogant smirk as Hinata was once again stumblingly slow and almost frighteningly easy to read and avoid.

"Whatever that power that you had, you should never have let it go. With it, you had a chance of winning, but without it, you haven't a prayer." Neji winced and gritted his teeth as he used his left hand to grip the blade of Hinata's sword, letting it stick in the flesh of his palm. Shoving his hand down the length of the blade he clenched his hand into a fist, trapping Hinata's sword arm. He lashed out with his right hand, intending to tap a trio of tenketsu on her chest. He was caught by surprise when Hinata caught his wrist and pulled it out so that he struck the air under her armpit. Hinata clamped down with elbow, now having trapped both his arms, she did something totally unexpected. Pulling her head back, she caught Neji on the bridge of his nose with the hard frontal bone, doing maximum damage to Neji while doing minimum damage to herself. She lashed out with a knee to his groin, making every male (including Naruto) wince at the power behind the blow.

Hinata finally released Neji's trapped arm, letting him fall back. Neji instantly fell back, going to one knee, using a hand to prevent him to falling on his face.

"Are you ready to give up Neji-nii-san?"

"And lose to a failure like you? Hah, don't be absurd." His stance was a little wobbly when he regained his feet, but he didn't let that slow him much as he assumed a stance that had anyone familiar with the Jyuuken widening their eyes.

"You are within the field of my divination. Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms." Hinata managed to block the first two strikes, but her defense faltered as Neji only sped up. Hinata was barely aware of Neji counting his strikes off for the lancing pain that she was being subjected to. Hinata's eye widened as a horrible pain lanced through her chest, her heart fluttering arrhythmically as Neji's attack finally ran out of steam. She opened her mouth to speak, but was unable to do so as her mouth filled with blood. She tried to keep her grip on Minazuki, but Neji was able to twist it out of her hand and toss it aside.

Pushing herself back to her feet, one arm wrapped around her chest, she lifted her other arm in a weak parody of a Jyuuken stance. "Give up now while you have the chance Hinata-sama. You have been fighting against your own nature since the moment you were born. But your destiny is set in a material far greater than stone the instant you enter this world. That is destiny. You have but to say 'I quit' and your suffering will end."

"That is not true Neji-nii-san. To me, it is obvious I am not the one in the greatest pain. You are the one that is lost in the destiny of the Main and Branch Houses."

Neji, enraged, ignored Hayate's command for him to stop. The only thing he saw was Hinata's death for implying that he was the weaker one. Hinata barely had the energy to flinch as he rushed in for the killing blow, only to be halted as... hatred did not begin to describe this feeling. It was more than bloodlust, it was a lust for _his _blood. He saw his death a dozen ways, a kunai to the throat, a pair of hands crushing his throat, a blade plunging into his chest. He blinked at the feel of warm wetness on his throat and realized Naruto had been restrained by the Hokage himself from ripping Neji's throat out with his clawed fingers by a hairsbreadth. Even Gai, legendary for his speed, had missed Naruto's movement. Even to his eye, there had been no discernible movement, he was on the balcony, then he was on the ground, nothing in between.

Neji stumbled backwards in a belated attempt to remove himself from those unnatural eyes' sight.

Neji walked away towards the stairs as Naruto struggled against the Hokage to go after him. Having put some distance between himself and the other boy, he seemed to regain some of his bravado. "Naruto-sama, there are two things I would like to tell you. First is that such emotions like your anger at the injury of a teammate has no place in the heart of a shinobi. Second is that in the end, a loser is a loser, as Hinata-sama has proved just now. If you want to kill me, then make it to the finals. We shall see who is right then."

Naruto hauled against the Hokage again, trying to get at Neji. "Naruto, if you attack Neji right now, I will have no choice but to disqualify you. If you wish to fight him, do as he says and do it in the finals. Besides, I think that Hinata needs you right now." Naruto jerked his head in a sharp nod and the Hokage let him go. Walking back to where Hinata's blood was pooled on the floor Naruto wetted his hand with it.

"Hyuuga Neji, Hinata has never laid a hand on you or thought ill of you. She sees you as an older brother, but you ignore her and take your hatred of the Main House out on her. This is inexcusable. You will pay in blood for every drop of hers you have spilled twice over. Should you ever touch her again, your life is forfeit." Drawing his sword with his hand, he drew it over the fleshy part of his inner arm and palm, coating the silver steel in both his and Hinata's blood. Leveling the crimson blade at Neji, Naruto gathered all the killing intent and reiatsu he could muster and released it all at Neji. "I swear by the blood staining the sword of my soul, though you may think that you hold the leash to my killing intent because you are a Konoha shinobi, all you will find is a bolt of lightning in its place. When we face each other in combat there will be no mercy for you, for I will only rest when I taste your blood." The effect of Naruto's speech was only enhanced by his slitted red eyes and black kimono and hakama that materialized when he released his reiatsu. Neji turned away from Naruto to hide the tremor of fear that spilled into his eyes.

OoOoO

Up in the balcony, Tenten turned to Neji's teammates. In as cheerful a tone as she could manage, Tenten said "I might want to start picking flowers for your teammate's funeral if I were you." Privately, Ino and Lee agreed.

OoOoO

Having delivered his promise, Naruto turned and knelt beside Hinata, smoothing her hair away from her forehead. "Na..Naruto...kun, was I a...able to change, even... even a little?"

"Hush, love, hush. Don't speak right now. You did spectacularly. I couldn't be prouder of you than I am now. You were magnificent." He punctuated that remark with a kiss on her forehead. A gentle smile spread over her features as she lost the fight to remain conscious. Naruto sent a shadow clone with the medics and returned to his place up on the balcony to wait for his turn to fight. He had never wanted someone's blood as badly as he wanted Neji's at that moment. He was roused out of his red study when he heard Sakura's name be called to the floor, along with a name he was unfamiliar with, Tsurugi Misumi.

Reiterating his rule, Sakura and Misumi faced each other, jumping away when Hayate yelled "Fourth Match: Start!"

Neither combatant moved for several long seconds, weighing and measuring each other before they got down to the reason they were there. Rushing together, the two engaged in a fierce taijutsu exchange that left Sakura wincing as Misumi had managed to snake a fist under a parrying arm and connect with her short ribs. Before the mission to Wave, she would have never been able to keep up with this guy. Even so, with several months hard work, she was barely able to keep the bespectacled boy from landing a serious blow. Sakura dodged to the side and formed five seals, directing her chakra into the stone floor under Misumi's feet. "Earth Release: Split Earth Turn Around Palm" was heard a second before the solid stone floor liquefied into a pool of viscous mud with an audible "schloop."

Unfortunately, Sakura's aim had been off by just a bit, so instead of trapping Misumi, he was easily able to leap over the pool and land safely on solid stone. "Hah, I think you need to go back to the Academy. Your aim is atrocious. You could definitely use the remedial target practice."

"That might be true had I been aiming to trap you. Earth Release: Earth Flow River" The pool of mud rippled for a moment before a river of mud exploded out of it. Misumi had only started to whirl to face this new threat when he was caught flat-footed. Misumi had only enough time to blink before the mud plowed into him, lifting him up bodily and driving him into the wall with crushing force. The earth did not fall apart or dissipate upon impact, instead retreating to coil around Sakura.

Hayate moved over to inspect the masked genin, pronouncing Sakura the winner when he found Misumi out cold.

The medics swooped in to cart Misumi off while the board sorted through the remaining fighters, deciding who should fight next. The names finally settled on "Kenji Kenji of Kiri versus Rock Lee of Konoha."

Lee grinned like a maniac when the bearded Kenji settled into a taijutsu stance. The words "Fifth Match: START!" were barely out of Hayate's mouth when Kenji was knocked ass over teakettle before fetching up against the opposite wall.

"You're a fast bastard," but Kenji matched Lee's grin and then some. He wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth and reset himself when his head stopped whirling. This time, Kenji was ready for Lee's blitzkrieg rush, deflecting the first three punches and catching a roundhouse that would have likely thrown him through to the next room. Kenji added his momentum to Lee's, slinging him face-first into the wall behind him. Everyone sweatdropped when Lee bounced back, an impression of his face driven into the wall, but otherwise unharmed. What followed had every person there except Gai (who eyes were literally _on fire _at the sight of someone that could keep up with his Lee) cringing. Gai wasn't too bad, once you became accustomed to his eccentricities, as much as one who wasn't Lee could, but flaming eyes, that was a whole 'nother level of weird.

Pinballs didn't have anything on the taijutsu contest going on down there. Kenji had learned to stay the hell out the way of Lee's punches, as well, to be frank, they were fucking scary. His kicks too for that matter. Hell, Lee was cratering the damn floor, and he hadn't even removed the weights that were obviously under those god-awful orange leg warmers.

So Kenji ran like a girl, getting the odd potshot into his body core and head when he could. He was sure his right arm was at least fractured, if not broken, from those three punches he had made the mistake of blocking at the very beginning of the match.

Kenji was running as fast as he could from Lee, when he changed direction abruptly, rocketing in to body slam Lee before Lee could realize what the hell had happened. Kenji didn't let up for an instant, following up with a flying roundhouse that sent Lee into the nearest wall. Kenji was on him just as Lee caught up with what Kenji had done, but Kenji was determined to press his advantage as long as he could. Lee raised both his arm in anticipation of some kind of super-strike, but Kenji, utilizing his superior height, leaned over Lee's guard and headbutted him. Seeing stars (damn the boy had a hard head!) Kenji automatically followed the unexpected maneuver with an uppercut that launched Lee into the air. Following Lee up, he sent the Second Green Beast of Konoha hurtling straight back down.

Panting, Kenji leaned on his knees as he waited for the dust to settle. He hoped that his barrage had put Lee down, but he feared otherwise. And sure enough, a battered-looking Lee rose again, looking even more excited than before. _'Jeez, if this guy gets any more excited, he is gonna cream his pants.'_

Lee launched himself at Kenji once again, leading with a right hook that Kenji ducked under, leading into a solid shot to Lee's gut. That took a bit of the fire out of Lee as Kenji leaned back and sent Lee skyward once again as Kenji flipped backwards, catching him under the chin with a foot. Not stupid enough to give Lee the chance to recover again, he charged into the dust cloud Lee threw up with his landing, only to be bounced back as he used his face to hit Lee's foot. Lee's foot won and Kenji tumbled a dozen feet back.

His vision was still obscured by flashes of light, but he knew whatever those twin _thoom_s were, he was probably in deep shit. Well, deep_er_. And sure enough, it turned out that Lee had taken off the leg warmers, and the weights that they had covered. Kenji barely had time to blink when Lee was on top of him. If Lee was fast before, he had nothing on himself now. Kenji could barely raise a hand to block a kick before he was thrown forward from a punch to his spine.

"I GIVE! I GIVE!" Kenji shouted when he could breathe again. Lee halted his kamikaze rush and screamed about the Flames of Youth that everyone tried to ignore as Kenji was carted off.

The board buzzed, Hayate announced "Inuzuka Kiba of Konoha versus Akamichi Choji of Konoha!" The two ninja descended to the floor, eying each other all the while. They had attended the Academy together, so they knew a lot about the other, which could make for an interesting fight.

"You do know you are going down, don't you Choji?"

"I want to get promoted too Kiba. Don't expect me to go easy or withdraw without a fight."

"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you."

"Sixth Match: START!" This time Hayate's caution was warranted, as both genin activated the jutsu of their choice. Kiba, with his Beast Human Clone and Four Legs Technique against Choji's Multi-Size Technique and Human Bullet Tank. The two Kibas were easily able to dodge the ponderous charge that Choji aimed at them. Watching as Choji banked, heading back to the Inuzuka, Kiba winced as Choji grazed the wall, digging a trench a foot deep while barely slowing him down.

Grinning, Kiba and Akamaru waited as Choji reoriented on the pair. Waiting until the last possible second, Kiba and Akamaru jumped to opposite sides of Choji, trailing an arm to claw him as he passed by. But the technique was not called the Human Bullet _Tank _for nothing, as the nails were torn from his fingers. Eyes widening in shock, Kiba and the reverted Akamaru turned to keep track of Choji, instinctively clutching their wounded appendages to heir chests.

Choji had not escaped unscathed though. His Human Bullet Tank started wobbling as soon as he passed Kiba, and quickly destabilized enough to send him tumbling in an uncontrolled roll, straight into the wall. Hayate seeing Choji's bloodied sides and the swirls that had replaced his eyes quickly called the match. It took five medics to get Choji on the stretcher, but once he was clear of the combat area, Hayate called "Sabaku no Temari of Suna and Higurashi Tenten of Konoha" down.

Naruto slipped an arm around Tenten's waist and kissed her cheek before whispering "good luck Ten-chan." Leaving her rifles with Naruto, as they would be too unwieldy in such a small area, Tenten blushed slightly as some of the ninja frowned at her, but her focus was on the blond woman across from her. Judging from the life-sized fan she was toting about, it would be a better-than-even bet that she was a wind user.

"Well, crap," Tenten muttered. Temari just smirked, either having heard her comment or guessed it. While she was not as wholly dependent upon her ranged weapons as she might have been before graduation, she was primarily a long-range combat type. And Temari was most likely her worst match up.

"You guys know the rules. So don't do anything against them and you will do fine. Seventh Match: START!"

Temari seemed content to just stand there as Tenten whipped a medium-sized scroll out and unleashed a wave of very sharp steel. Temari brought her fan up and flicked it open, deflecting Tenten's projectiles with contemptuous ease. "Please tell me you have more than that at your disposal. I am going to be very disappointed if not. A one-trick pony like you has no right to even think about chunin if that is all you have.

Her fears confirmed, a plan was forming in Tenten's mind. Drawing another medium scroll (no sense in wasting ammo after all,) she unsealed the weapons held within while circling the other woman. Again, Temari blocked her attacks, starting to scowl at Tenten. Her irritation turned into full blown anger as the brunette fired yet another scroll at her. This was really getting slightly ludicrous. The girl should just give up is this was all she had. She would run out of ammunition before she ran out of chakra.

Temari was so focused on her own thoughts that she almost missed the ten pound weight that had not been deflected by the half-hearted gusts of wind she had been using. Temari's scowl turned into a slight grin. Maybe there was more to this girl than firing off scrolls of shuriken and kunai.

Tenten sighed mentally. Well, she hadn't really expected the attack to work, but it was worth a try. When the Suna-nin fired a gust of wind at her, she seemed surprised when Tenten replied with a Blade of Wind, parting the gust safely to each side. The two kunoichi stood there for a few seconds, analyzing each other, searching for a weakness in the defenses they had seen so far.

Temari broke the stalemate by whipping her fan in a horizontal sweep releasing a blade of wind so dense that it warped the light passing through it. Tenten countered by lashing out with a vertical slash of her released zanpakuto, once again parting Temari's gust. The wind attack was only a distraction because Temari quickly followed up with a thrust with her iron fan. The follow-up caught Tenten by surprise, but she was able to catch the fan by clutching the chain between her fists. Twirling under the deflection, Tenten looped the white chain around the end of the fan and dragged it to the ground.

The unexpected downward force caused Temari to stumble slightly, giving Tenten on opening, which she used to drive a kick into Temari's side. Temari's breath left her in a whuff, but she maintained enough thought to retaliate with a backhand that stunned Tenten long enough for her to free her fan.

Both girls retreated to their respective corners to catch their breath and strategize. It was clear by now that Tenten was not the superior of the two wind manipulators, so it was time to use the element she was good with. Releasing her shikai, Tenten sheathed her sword and made three hand seals. The ground trembled momentarily before a fully-formed dragon made of stone erupted from the ground a few feet in front of Tenten. Tenten wasted no time in sending the dragon after her opponent. Temari tried to divert the dragon, but she might as well have been spitting on the thing for all the effect her gusts and cuts were doing. Hopping up on her fan, Temari quickly got out of the way and started circling the weapons mistress.

Tenten fired the odd kunai up at the blond without any real hope of hitting her, waiting for Temari to slow down, mess up or tire out. When it became obvious that she was going to do none of the three, Tenten grimaced and prepared to reveal one of the abilities that Urahara had taught them. Gathering reishi (spirit particles) under her feet, Tenten made a chakra-enhanced jump at Temari, which she avoided with disdainful ease. But she was quick to look over her shoulder when she did not see the brunette land again. Temari couldn't do anything but gape (along with everyone that was not Naruto) as Tenten followed her, _running in midair._

She was barely able to bank to one side as Tenten threw one of her two tessen at her. The displaced air nearly upset her, but with deft manipulation of the air current she was riding on, she managed to stay airborne. What the strange Konoha-nin was doing defied every law of chakra manipulation that she had ever heard of. First of all, she didn't seem to be using chakra at all, but that aside, there was no column of air gusting to keep her up, nor was there any sort of visible support extending from the nearest balcony. It simply seemed that Tenten decided that gravity simply did not apply to her.

One thing that Temari noticed immediately was that she was not actually flying. It was more like she was standing on some sort of invisible platform, as ridiculous as that sounded. Temari really could not do anything to regain the offensive while airborne, unlike Tenten, so she reluctantly returned to solid ground. While she could attack, Tenten now held the high ground, quite literally.

Temari found herself in the odd position of being in the complete opposite position than she was in at the start of the match, where she was the one on the defensive, unable to get a counterstrike in. She had no idea how draining that technique was, but Tenten had been maintaining it for several minutes now without batting an eyelash, so outlasting her was an unlikely prospect.

Leaping aside from another Wind Release: Windstream Technique that Tenten threw at her, she leaped onto her fan once again and launched herself at Tenten. It wasn't until that Temari was practically on top of her that Tenten realized that Temari was not aiming herself in her direction, but aiming herself at her. Temari's flying shoulder tackle caught her in the midriff, throwing the pair of them to the ground. Tenten was seeing stars and was having trouble regaining her breath, as Temari's knee was planted firmly right under her ribcage.

Placing her hands on Tenten's throat, Temari said, "she is done for. Call it Proctor-san."

"Like hell," Tenten wheezed. Arching her stomach and swinging a leg up to catch the now-off balance Temari by the throat, and pulled back as hard as she could. Drawing one of the two tiny derringers that she kept up her sleeves, she rested the end of the muzzle on Temari's forehead.

Cocking the hammer with her thumb, she asked, "now who is done for, Temari-san?"

"You," she replied, sweeping an arm to knock Tenten's gun away from her head.

Tenten squeezed off a shot, but missed. Temari's pigtails were of very little use in cushioning her head from swift contact with the stone floor as Tenten used her other hand to push Temari's head down against the hard stone and as quick as that, Temari stopped struggling. She didn't bother casting about for her zanpakuto, instead flipped her spent pistol around a clubbing Temari on the temple with the steel-capped butt. "Don't ever count a live enemy out," she rasped. "Forty-third ninja rule. You should do better to remember them."

Hayate glanced between the two kunoichi for a moment, giving Temari to pull off a comeback, but she just lay there. Nodding to Tenten he called out "Winner: Higurashi Tenten."

Naruto whooped and jumped to help Tenten back up to the balcony where she sat down with her head between her knees, feeling sick from Temari's knee to her gut.

Naruto was not given much time to congratulate her on her victory because "Hyuuga Naruto versus Akado Yoroi" were the next names thrown up by the board. Giving Tenten one last rub on the back, Naruto descended from the balcony to the arena opposite Yoroi. Yoroi's body language practically screamed "get the fuck away from me!" And after seeing what Naruto and his teammates could do, that was not a bad idea. He briefly toyed with the idea of simply forfeiting, but were Orochimaru to find out, he would be displeased. So as scary as Naruto was, Orochimaru scared him more.

The words "Eighth Match: START!" were barely out of his mouth when a red-eyed Naruto was on him. Naruto's simple katana flashed in the light, temporarily blinding him, he was quickly reconsidering his resolution not to throw the match. Orochimaru, mercurial bastard he was, might spare him were he to explain his situation properly.

Before he could make a decision, the choice was taken from him. Preparing to lunge for the boy to activate his Chakra Absorption Technique, the air seemed to thicken, coagulate around his body, morphing into a heavy mud-like consistency. While he could move, it was at a snails pace, and only when he focused every particle of his will to doing so. A blink later, Naruto was standing off to one side, holding his heavy short blade to his throat in a reverse grip.

"Twitch and you are dead. Give it up now." Quickly glancing at Hayate, he threw every iota of fear he was feeling into the look, hoping that Hayate would call the match.

Raising his hand, Hayate nodded to Naruto calling out "Winner: Hyuuga Naruto."

Nodding to the proctor, Naruto swung his sword away from Yoroi's throat, letting the other ninja drop to his knees in relief. Naruto didn't even look in the direction of the stairs as he passed through the doors leading to the attached infirmary. Tenten, or Anko if it came to it, could watch the last two fights. Right now, the only thing on his mind was checking up on Hinata.

Hayate watched the blond sheathe his blade and walk into the infirmary without a glance back. Shrugging, he announced the next match: "Uchiha Sasuke of Konoha versus Aburame Shino of Konoha. Ninth Match: START!"

Up in the balcony, Kakashi had warned Sasuke about using his Sharingan lest he lose himself to the curse seal on his neck, and by extension any of his ninjutsu, as the curse seal tried to draw out any chakra in his body to use. Shino on the other hand, was not burdened by any such limitation. Sasuke narrowed his eyes in suspicion as the Aburame heir seemed to be content to just stand there, waiting for Sasuke to make the first move. Lunging forward, Sasuke obliged him by way of a right footed roundhouse kick. Shino raised his left arm and caught it the kick on his forearm quite easily.

"You are not fighting at full capacity Sasuke-kun. It would be wise to withdraw now and try later, when you can fight at full strength."

"Are you mocking me? I am perfectly fine, Shino-kun," Sasuke replied through gritted teeth. Lowering the foot, Sasuke followed up with a series of punches that drove Shino back on his heels. But no matter how he struck, Shino calmly accepted his attacks without response. Activating his Sharingan, he tried to ignore the sharp spike of pain radiating from the three-tomoe seal on his neck. Now with the limited precognition his two-tomoe Sharingan afforded, he was finally able to get a couple punches in past the stolid bug-users defense.

Almost as soon as he activated his Sharingan, he felt an unusual drain on his chakra, apart from the tension that the curse seal was already exerting. Realizing what had happened, Sasuke leaped back away from Shino.

It was hard to tell, high collar and dark shades, but Sasuke could swear that Shino actually smirked at him. "So you finally noticed. I planted my kikaichu on you when I was just standing still, waiting for you to attack." Wincing as the pain from the curse seal redoubled and the exhaustion that was slipping in as the bugs kept draining his chakra drove him to one knee, he glared at the other boy. Unable to think of any other option, he relaxed the effort of will that it was taking to prevent the cursed seal on his neck from activating. As soon as he did, the flame-like tattoos had covered half his face and left arm. Letting a sneer twist his lips, he rose easily to his feet, ignoring the kikaichu that were falling off his back. Shino, to his credit, hid his surprise well, sliding into a defensive stance, readying himself to accept whatever manner of attack that Sasuke offered.

Dashing forward, Sasuke seemed to lose his footing and fall into a graceless slide at the Aburame's feet. Shino of course was wary of a trick, as well he should have. However, his reflexes were not up to outpacing Sasuke's Sharingan. Even as he began to retreat, Sasuke went into a handstand, pistoning both his arms and legs, putting his whole body weight into sending Shino into orbit. Before Shino had time to do anything other than blink at the unexpected attack, Sasuke was behind him, using the Shadow Leaf Dance to strike him from behind, before sending Shino hurtling earthward with a brutal axe kick.

Shino shook his head to clear his vision when he was able to stand up straight. Carefully comparing this new well of power that Sasuke was apparently drawing from against his own chakra reserves and the fact that his favored tactic of draining his opponent of chakra before moving in for the coup de grace was proving ineffective, he weighed his chances of emerging victorious from this match.

"Proctor-san, I find it improbable that I could emerge victorious from this match without sustaining crippling injuries. I forfeit."

Hayate nodded in respect to Shino and the two boys limped to alcove leading to the medical facilities to let the medics there examine their injuries. Kakashi intercepted Sasuke on the way, looking uncharacteristically serious, told the medics that he would take care of Sasuke himself.

The whirring of the board was completely superfluous, as there were only two people who had not fought at this point.

Hayate had not even called their names before Sabaku no Kankuro and Kaiyou Sora were descending to the area floor. Letting the two competitors ready themselves, Hayate cried "Tenth Match: START!"

Kankuro slung the bandage-wrapped bundle off his back as Sora formed a single seal. Those who remained of Teams Nine and Seven immediately recognized the Hidden Mist Technique. If Sora was trained anything like Zabuza, then Kankuro could be in deep trouble. It was impossible to see anything of what was going on in the arena, other than the odd retort of wood cracking and the sound of water splashing.

Ten minutes into the fight, an explosion of chakra, not unlike the killing intent that Naruto had unleashed on Neji earlier, swamped the room, sending the thick fog into chaotic swirls. There was a meaty thud, audible despite the muting qualities of the fog. Things fell silent for another couple of minutes before the a sound somewhere between a scream and a gurgle heralded the dissipation of the fog.

When the fog had cleared enough so as not to obscure sight unduly, everyone was able to see Sora, slightly bloodied, holding a kodachi, (although where the hell she had drawn that from was a complete mystery,) and a very bedraggled and unconscious Kankuro. "You might want to hurry. He is going to need treatment for a drowning victim as well as CPR." The medics nodded in her direction as they rolled Kankuro over onto his side. Several sharp strikes to the back had Kankuro vomiting up an astounding amount of water. Semiconscious and with his face paint running, he was removed to the infirmary for further treatment.

"Will everyone that has passed the Preliminaries please come down to the arena floor to be addressed by the Hokage." Hayate stepped back, allowing the Hokage to take center stage as every gathered before him.

"Congratulations one and all for advancing to the Final Exam. Now, I would like to let you all know that the Third Exam is not going to be held immediately, but in exactly one month. The reasons for this are that time is needed to gather all the lords and leaders of the allied ninja world for this Exam. And also to allow you to prepare for what is going to be the most grueling test yet. Up until this point, you have been fighting strangers, people who have no clue as to your abilities and have no idea of yours. After today, this is no longer true. There were fighters here that were badly injured in their fights, so to be fair, this one month is given to allow those who were wounded time to recover and allow you to think about your potential opponents and develop strategies to counter them, as well as develop now powers of your own."

Kurenai stepped forward with a box filled with paper slips, offering one to each person. When all nine competitors had drawn one, (Kakashi filling in for Sasuke and Anko in for Naruto) Ibiki, the examiner from the first test wrote what numbers everyone had drawn.

"And now, allow me to reveal the matchups for the Final Exam tournament."

Hyuuga Naruto vs Hyuuga Neji

Sasuke Uchiha vs Rock Lee

Shikamaru Nara vs Kaiyou Sora

Higurashi Tenten vs Sakura Haruno

Sabaku no Gaara vs Kiba Inuzuka


	18. One Month

**Chapter Eighteen: One Month**

**Tower of Death Infirmary: Day One**

The shadow clone that Naruto had sent in after Hinata initially dispelled itself when it saw the original approaching. Naruto closed his eyes for a moment to assimilate the memories of the clone. He pressed his lips into a thin line when he had reviewed everything, anger and hatred flaring towards Hinata's supposed guardian once again.

Neji had really put Hinata through the wringer. Virtually every organ had sustained some bruising, with her heart and lungs lightly lacerated. Her stomach was so battered that she could barely hold broth down and her urine was red with blood. She had nearly bitten the tip of her tongue off, as well as shredded the inside of her cheeks. The only good news in all of this was that she was out of the ICU and had been moved to a regular room, but the nurses were being assholes, as usual. "Hinata-sama is recovering right now, sir, and is not accepting visitors."

Given all that had happened in the last two hours or so, Naruto was not inclined to take anything less than a "yes sir, right this way sir." Glaring at the nurse behind the desk, Naruto replied, growling "Nurse-san, which room is _my wife _in?"

Having felt the monstrous killing intent earlier, the chunin medic-nin, thought her answer over for a pair of seconds before deciding it wasn't worth her life to screw with the demon brat. "Room three," she replied quickly.

He smiled and nodded as if she had answered to his satisfaction the first time. Walking down the corridor, he noted the name plaque with Hinata's name on it, he opened the door, letting it swing shut behind him.

Hinata was hooked up to a number of medical machines, one of which he recognized as monitoring her heart and another her brain activity. Picking her chart off the foot of the bed, he browsed through it, understanding maybe one word in five. Still anything was better than looking at Hinata's abnormally pale face, at least until he was sure that he wouldn't coldcock Neji with a knife to the jugular if he looked at her.

Finally confident that he would not go and do something that would likely land him in jail, he replaced her chart and picked a chair up, placing it by the bed, at an angle so he could keep an eye on both the window and door. Carefully cupping one porcelain-skinned hand in both of his tanned ones, he stared at Hinata's placid features, absently rubbing small circles on the back of her hand.

"Hello love."

"Hi Naruto-kun," Hinata breathed back.

"You were really awesome out there Hinata-chan. I mean, using that mask thing, and your Inferno technique, you really deserve to have won your match. If you had gone up against anyone else, you would have thrashed them, no doubt about it."

"You really think so, Naruto-kun?" Hinata was barely able to crack her eyes and her voice was weak and thready, but she slowly rolled her head to look at Naruto.

"Shhh, hush love. Yes, yes you were. You were absolutely spectacular. There is no one out there that could have expected more from you. I cannot express how proud I am of you."

Hinata lips curved in a weak smile, likely all she could manage, before speaking again. "You really think so? You think that I changed? Even a little?"

"Your change was more of a metamorphosis. No matter what Neji-bastard or anyone else says, you did better than anyone else out there."

"I'm glad you think so." Hinata let her gaze return to the ceiling before she broke the silence once again. "Naruto-kun, please don't hurt Neji-nii-san. He, he has had a hard life. What he said was not his fault. Neji, he is really the one who should have been born into the Main House, not me."

Naruto cut her thready rambling off with a finger to her lips. "Hinata, I cannot forgive him for what he did and said to you. I will promise not to kill him, but I will make him pay for what he did. Please don't ask me to do any less. I cannot do any less. Not and be able to look at myself in the mirror. Not and be able to respect myself. Hinata, you are one of the three people that I love without reservation. Seeing you like this, it is almost more than I can bear. So, please do not ask me not to hurt him."

Hinata was silent for a long moment. She studied his face through her slitted eyes. There was a look of such... pleading desperation, terrified that he would not be able to repay the one who had hurt her so. She found that however much she loved her cousin, she loved her husband more, and though he would leave Neji be if she asked, he would hate himself ever after. She realized that she could not cause that inner turmoil in him, so settled for his promise that he would let Neji live.

Naruto sighed at her acquiescence. Naruto stood up and kissed her. He tasted the metallic tang of blood and saline on her lips. "Rest now, love. I will be here when you wake." Hinata nodded drowsily, the brief effort of holding a conversation with him too much for her to hold off any longer and she slipped into warm blackness.

"How long have you been there?" Naruto asked the woman standing in the doorway.

"A couple of minutes, but I wasn't eavesdropping. Even the pervert here had the sense to leave the two of you alone." Anko sent a light elbow into her white-haired companion's midriff.

"Hey, I may be a super-pervert, but even I have limits."

"Good to know Jirayia-sama. 'Cuz if I ever find out that you based a scene in one off your filthy books on any member of my team, not even Tsunade-sama would be able to save your testicles."

"Ahem. Yes, well, anyways, there is a more important reason why we are here." Naruto nodded and created a shadow clone in the doorway, so as not to bother Hinata's rest with the smoke. The clone went back to her side while the original followed his mother and part-time teacher out, closing the door quietly behind him.

"What is it that you two want?" Naruto asked brusquely. Jiraiya glanced down at Anko in surprise. Naruto was many things, but solemn he was not. Anko shook her head, signaling to Jiraiya not press the issue.

"Um... yes, well, I just wanted to tell you that I am going to be taking over your training for the month until the Chunin Final Exam. We will be leaving Konoha to do some of this training, but we won't be far off. Gather whatever you need for a month of camping and say goodbye to anyone you as you won't be seeing them until we return for the exam."

"What about you Mom?"

"I am going to be training Tenten while you are off with Jiraiya-sama. I would train you myself, but Jiraiya-sama is miles above me in skill. I honestly think that you would do much better under him than myself for the time being."

"Where is Tenten-chan right now?"

"Um... I don't really know. Went back home maybe? I just told her to meet me at the training grounds tomorrow to resume training and come here."

"Okay then. When do you want to leave Jiraiya-sensei?"

It was not often that Jiraiya was caught off guard, but finally hearing the blond brat call him sensei was certainly worthy of a double take. "Tomorrow at the east gate, eight o'clock sharp."

Naruto nodded silently and started to walk down the hallway and out of sight. Before he had gone more than half a dozen paces, he paused, as if he remembered something. Reaching inside his coat, he lobbed a large scroll in an underhanded toss. "Almost forgot. Found some dead Sound-nins in the forest during the second test. I took their heads and sealed them in that scroll. Thought they might give us some useful intel on them. Give that to whoever I guess."

Once Naruto had left for good this time Jiraiya turned to Anko. "Jiraiya-sama? What the hell happened?"

"It's a little complicated, but basically Hyuuga Neji, the Branch House genius, put Hinata into the ICU, and Naruto, well, he did not take that very well. He almost killed Neji on the spot, and would have succeeded had the Hokage not intervened. He has become very protective of the girl, especially since our last mission."

"Well, this sounds like something best heard over some strong alcohol. I know a place with pretty good jiu. I'll pay."

"Sure thing. I certainly don't want to talk about all this while sober."

OoOoO

As soon as he emerged from the Forest of Death (a safe path having been cleared for the fighters,) Naruto blitzed the whole of Konoha with a thousand clones searching for Tenten. A few minutes later, one found her and sent him the knowledge by dispersing itself. Landing behind her after jumping off a wooden fence, he leaned down and wrapped his arms around the girl, nuzzling her neck. Tenten turned her head and smiled briefly as he kissed her in greeting.

"So what are you doing here?" Naruto asked, gesturing to the Konoha Shinobi Academy that Tenten was looking at from the tree swing.

"I don't know. Just thinking."

"Ah. About what?" he asked as he lifted Tenten out of the swing and set her down in his lap sideways once he sat down in it.

"About being a ninja. It has barely been, what, eight, ten months, since we graduated? Everything was so simple in the Academy. So easy. Everything was safe. There was no pain or anything, just eagerness to learn," she said, subconsciously fingering the scar from where she had been stabbed in the heart back on the way to Kiri.

"What brought this on?"

"Ah, who knows. I'm kinda tired." Tenten leaned back against Naruto, resting her head in the crook of his shoulder.

"Yeah, well it has been a long day."

"You can say that again. And us normal people don't have a nine-tailed demon lord to draw on either."

"Heh. Mom talk to you already?"

"Yeah. She told me that she was sending you off with Jiraiya-sama for training until the Final Exam is here. It's going to be weird to be in Konoha without you. We haven't been separated since we became a team for longer than a day or so."

"Don't worry about it. I'll send a couple clones back here every day. Ero-sennin said we weren't going far, just a few miles out. So it's not like I will be completely gone."

Both teens were quiet for a few seconds before Tenten spoke again. "How is Hinata doing?"

Naruto unconsciously tightened his arms around Tenten before forcing them to relax. "Hurt badly, but recovering. The docs say she should be fine in another two or three weeks." Just the memory of that... _man_, standing over Hinata while she lay choking in her own blood caused the ball of anger nestled in the pit of his stomach flare into searing rage again.

"I really feel sorry for her. Her life has been such a crapshoot. We've been a team less than a year, and she has already nearly been killed twice, got beat half to death by her cousin, and still gets crap from her father. I just wish there was something more we could do for her."

"So do I, more than you know. I love her, and want to protect her, but it seems every time I look away, she is back in the hospital for something. It... it just feels... wrong. She is the kindest person I know, and yet..." Naruto sighed. "I don't know. Just feels like there is something more I should do for her."

"I know, Naruto-kun. You already do plenty. Neji looked scared enough to shit his pants back there."

Naruto gave a halfhearted laugh at Tenten's attempt at humor. "Yeah I know. He is lucky that Hinata-chan made me promise not to kill him. Otherwise, there isn't anything to keep me from turning him to paste next month."

"You will beat him though."

"Definitely. There is no way I can lose, 'specially with Ero-sennin teaching me for the next month. Although I will probably spend as much time trying to get him to train me as doing actual training, knowing him. You know that he introduced himself as a super-pervert when I first met him?"

Tenten giggled. "No, but that seems to fit his personality. He is nothing if flamboyant."

"Yeah, he is that." Naruto and Tenten sat there for a few seconds, rocking back and forth gently. "You do know I love you, don't you?"

"I know you do Naruto-kun."

"It is just, I don't want to seem like I am abandoning you, things have been so hectic recently, it is hard to find time for anything other than work. When was the last time we went on a date?"

"Before the mission to Grass, I think."

"Well, once the Exams are over and we have some time to think about something other than training and tests and fighting, we will go out, anywhere you want, completely on me. Cost is not an issue, the sky is the limit."

"You don't have to do that Naruto-kun. I understand, between Hinata getting put out of commission twice in the last month and the tests and training, there hasn't been time for anything else."

"I know I don't have to, I want to. I want to spend some time with you, alone, no Mom, no teachers, no friends, just you and me together. I want to spend money on you, take you somewhere you haven't been before, make you feel like the woman you are. If I have to, I will get Mom to make you take a day off."

Tenten giggled softly again, tightening her grip on Naruto's chest again. "If you insist then, it is a date."

The pair spent a few more minutes on the swing, until the main doors to the school opened and released a horde of six to twelve-year-old munchkins come charging out of the school.

Standing up, he made his way to the Hyuuga complex after parting ways from Tenten, barely enough attention paid to the road to get him there in one piece.

Naruto waved the offer of dinner off, instead jumping into the shower and then climbing into the futon in his room. His and Hinata's suite seemed eerily silent as he rose the next morning, servants moving about in quiet efficiency, bathing, dressing and arming him with sure motions. He left the Hyuuga complex without having said a single word to anyone there. He created a shadow clone which raced off to the hospital, racing to arrive before Hinata woke, so he would be the first thing she saw when she woke.

Adjusting the bulky scroll, filled with everything he would need for a month-long stay in the wilderness, Naruto set off at a walk to the great gates of Konoha to meet Jiraiya. He returned half-hearted waves and smiles to the few people who greeted him, ignoring everyone else. Clad in the dark clothes and trenchcoat he had bought for the Chunin Exams with his ninja marker tied on his arm, he had no problem making good time through the early morning traffic, mostly women, both servants and freemen heading to the market to buy food for the day.

He nodded to the to chunin on gate duty and set in to wait for his sensei to arrive. He was so wrapped up in thought that he startled when a heavy calloused hand settled on his shoulder. Ninja instinct took over and he slipped out of the straps attaching him to the scroll, rolling away from his assailant. He drew a kunai from a holster in the same motion that brought him to a crouch facing his opponent.

"Heh, you need to go back to the Academy if I you didn't notice me not sneaking up."

"Whatever Ero-sennin. You ready to go?"

Jiraiya quirked an eyebrow at Naruto's rather flat response. "Yeah, got everything we are going to need right here. You?"

"Yep."

Once again wondering at his protege's lack of verbosity, Jiraiya nodded and handed his passport over to the two gate guards for inspection. Passing muster, Jiraiya immediately took to the canopy, ignoring the wildlife startled by his swift passage. The only sound to reach the elderly sennin's ears during the trip was the whooshing of his flight. Naruto kept up with him, but was obviously distracted by something, and equally unwilling to discuss it. Knowing the kinds of teenage drama that was a unavoidable part of growing up, Jiraiya was content to let the boy be, to try to work things out by himself.

Once everything had been unloaded (which was limited to dumping the scrolls to the ground), Jiraiya addressed Naruto. "Okay brat, listen up. As is, your chakra control sucks, and for the technique I am going to teach you, it needs to be better. So, to do that, I am going to start teaching you a technique that your father invented." Holding one hand out, fingers clawed, a tightly controlled sphere of chaotic chakra materialized without any hand seals. Turning around, Jiraiya drove the chakra-ball into a nearby tree, boring completely through the trunk.

"The Rasengan is the pinnacle of shape manipulation, so difficult that even the Yondaime took three years in creating this technique. Hell, it took me ages to learn it myself, and I am the great Jiraiya-sama. So don't expect to have mastered this in a month, or even a year. This is just another exercise to increase your chakra control to the level it needs to be to learn what I have to teach you."

Jiraiya reached into one of his pockets and withdrew a bag of balloons. "There are three stages to learning the Rasengan, an A-rank ninjutsu. First, by combining the skills you learned by tree climbing and water walking, you have to release a set amount of chakra in your hands, learned from tree climbing, while maintaining that set amount over an extended period of time, learned from water walking. The goal of this exercise is to make the water balloon pop by spinning the water in it. Like this." Jiraiya filled a water balloon, doing just that, bulging in various places just before exploding.

"Ah, Ero-sennin, there is something else I need you to do first. You know how my and Sasuke's teams ran into Orochimaru during the Second Exam?"

"Yeah, I heard about that. I offered to take a look at Sasuke, but Kakashi said he had it under control."

"Yeah, well, Orochimaru messed with my seal." Naruto lifted his shirt and channeled chakra to make the seal visible. Jiraiya quirked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that is certainly Orochimaru's work. Sloppy, unrefined and crude, but effective nevertheless. Classically him. I can see how it would interfere with your chakra flow." He flicked his hands through the seals and pressed his glowing fingers over Orochimaru's symbols, the two seals negating one another. "There. Easy as pie."

Forming the seals for the Hidden Shadow Snake Hands, he nodded in satisfaction as a pair of king cobras shot from his sleeves. "Now that you are fixed, get going." Nodding silently, Naruto filled a balloon, and set to.

OoOoO

**Konoha**

Clone-Naruto ignored the nurse manning the front desk that squawked at him when he entered the hospital to visit Hinata. She was already awake, sitting up and eating the porridge that was fed to you when you could handle broth, but not solid food. The stuff had the consistency of paste and the taste of the ninja ration bars, all health and no flavor.

"Good morning Hinata-chan."

"Good morning to you too Naruto-kun."

"How are you feeling?" Naruto asked once he had seated himself.

"Tired. And sore. But mostly sore."

"No pain?"

"Not much. Just when I breathe too deeply, or move too much."

"Well, that is good I suppose. The doctor say when you can come home? It is very lonely without you there."

"The doctor said I could go home next week, as long as I take things easy. I should be good enough to resume training a week after that. The doctor said that there was only so much that they could repair with chakra. The rest had to be done by my body."

Naruto was silent for a long couple of seconds. "You know that I cannot forgive Neji for what he did."

"Naruto-kun..."

"Hold on please Hinata-chan. Let me finish. I will honor my promise, but even that much... You know something of my childhood, how I was mugged when I was ten?" Hinata nodded solemnly. "I have so few things I care for in his world, and even fewer people, that, well, I have to protect what I have. And I have to do it with all my being, lest I lose what little I do have. So just know, I won't kill Neji, but that doesn't mean that he will be leaving the fight on his own two feet. I love you so much, I don't know what I would do if I were to lose you."

Hinata, who up until the formation of Team Nine, had been neglected almost as badly as Naruto had, couldn't think of anything to say. She realized that his shoulders were shaking because he was crying, tears dripping onto his knees. Reaching forward, she hugged him, letting the blond cry onto her shoulder, not complaining when he squeezed too tightly and made her ribs hurt. It felt odd, she thought, to be the one comforting Naruto. As long as she had known him, he had been an iron pillar, indomitable and unbeatable. Even when he was injured in Wave Country with a wound that would have incapacitated a lesser man, he still found the strength to hurl his zanpakuto thirty or forty feet, with enough energy left to kill. He managed to kill the masked monster that had stripped her of her Shinigami powers and stop her cousin with nothing but killing intent. To see him crying was surprising to say the least. Nevertheless, she said nothing, murmuring nonsense syllables into his ear, allowing him to vent.

Hinata didn't know how long it took him to cry out, but when he did, he gave her a beaming smile. She ignored her sodden shoulder, wet from tears and mucus. But her attention was completely diverted when Naruto when digging in the black trenchcoat he still wore, finally revealing a still-hot cinnamon roll. Her mouth watered at the sight, hands making grabby motions to the cinnamon confection.

Naruto handed the sweet over, watching Hinata devour it in three bites. He offered a second bun, but withheld the third, as in his words, "there is a reason why the doctors have you on gruel." Hinata just thought he was being mean, her cute pout failing to net her the third pastry. Naruto admitted that the buns were good, if a little sweet for him.

"What happened to you when you were fighting Neji yesterday? That white mask, something happened to you when Urahara took you away to get your shinigami powers back, didn't it?"

Hinata nodded slowly, carefully wording her answer. "You know what Urahara-sensei said about shinigami and Hollows?" Naruto nodded. "Well, to become a shinigami again, I think I almost became a Hollow. Normally, my zanpakuto looks like a kappa, but when I went back to my soul plain, and had to fight myself, only not. There was someone who looked like me, except all her colors were reversed. She called herself Minazuki and said that I had to beat her to be able to see the real Minazuki. I think she was the part of me that was turning into a Hollow."

"And that white mask was a sign of her taking over again?"

"Yeah, I think so. I had to break that same mask off when I finished training with Urahara-san the first time too."

"I see. Well, it seems that this Hollow-Hinata only come out in the middle of a fight. You just have to find a way to control it, to make sure that it doesn't take over again. Think of how strong you could be if you could control it. It was thrashing Neji uncontrolled. Once you master it, you will be unbeatable."

Hinata let out a small smile in the face of Naruto's confidence. Somehow, she doubted that gaining control of this new power would be easy.

OoOoO

**Naruto's Training Camp**

Naruto was glaring at the red water balloon clutched in his hand in the fading light of the setting sun. The thing deformed like mad, turning into a disc nearly a foot wide, but it still wouldn't freaking pop! No matter how fact he swirled the water, he couldn't get the balloon to pop. Letting the water stop swirling, the balloon eventually resumed its normal shape. Jiggling the balloon slightly, he frowned. Charging the water with a little bit of chakra, the balloon started to deform yet again.

Sitting down, Naruto tried to think of what Jiraiya did differently to get the balloon to pop. Squeezing the balloon with his fingers rhythmically, he started when the balloon popped in his fist. Staring at his wet hand in surprise, a slow smile curved his lips. Grabbing another water balloon, using his tapping fingers to separate the single stream of chakra into many different ones, the balloon popped once again.

Leaping up from his seated position, he punched a fist into the air, screaming "YATTA!" for all to hear. Racing back to camp, Naruto proudly announced his success.

"Huh, you really have? Show me," Jiraiya told his student. Producing another balloon, he proceeded to pop it. Outwardly, Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at the sight. Inwardly, his chin had punched a hole in the ground. It had taken him a _week_ to figure out how to pop the balloon, and here Naruto did it in a day. "Well, damn. Whoda thunk it? A brat like you mastering it so quickly. You know, I wasn't planning on giving you the second step, as it focuses on power, but what the hell. What you gotta do is use the first step but crank the power way up. That rubber ball is approximately a hundred times harder to pop than that water balloon was."

Catching the ball, Naruto took a breath and focused on the ball. Creating the chaotic vortex wasn't that hard, but instead of the wild distortions that the water balloon suffered, the ball barely deformed. Releasing the flow and trying it again, concentrating harder still failed to pop the balloon. Naruto's scowl only succeeded in eliciting a wide grin from Jiraiya. Plopping down, Naruto pocketed the ball and filled a bowl with the stew that was simmering over the low fire.

OoOoO

**Konoha Training Ground Nineteen**

**Morning, same day**

Tenten was yawning and rubbing at her eyes sleepily when she arrived at the training ground at five a.m. Stuffing a fist in her mouth to stifle a yawn, she peered into the surrounding foliage, knowing that she would not spot Anko, but compelled to give at least a token attempt. Sure enough, she heard some rustling to her left, so turned to her right to see Anko emerging from the undergrowth in a flying leap. Groggy as she was, she was still a shinobi, so she whiled in a circle, drawing a pair of kunai and letting instinct take rein. What followed was a brief but vigorous struggle that resulted in Tenten sprawled flat on her back. Her usual confident smirk firmly in place, Anko squatted down beside Tenten as the younger woman lay there.

"Morning Panda-chan." Tenten cocked an eyebrow at the new form of address, but didn't respond. If Anko wanted to give her a nickname, there was nothing she was going to be able to do to change her mind. In fact, if she were to protest, that would only encourage Anko to keep calling her Panda. So she chose the path of least resistance and just accepted it. It wasn't a very original nickname, but wasn't offensive or embarrassing, so she could accept it.

Tenten grunted her own greeting and let Anko pull her to her feet. "Not bad reaction there, kid. A little sloppy on the number four parry, and you didn't follow though on the number eight thrust, but overall, you are doing okay." Tenten nodded and waited for the punchline. "However, okay is not good enough. We will warm up by doing a lap around Konoha and then we will get down to business."

Tenten looked over her shoulder to where the sun would be if this were a reasonable hour. The grey light of the false dawn was beginning to show, but it was still very dark. The Green Desert, the massive forest that Konoha was hidden in, grew right up to the walls in most places with the accompanying roots and undergrowth coupled with the darkness would make it a long run. Rubbing the last of the sleep from her eyes, Tenten sighed and headed for the nearest gate. It was an exhausting hour spent half-tripping, half stumbling, Anko hard on her heels in the undercanopy, ready to sic her snakes on her is she showed any sign of slowing. Breakfast was silent after they ordered a large breakfast at an early morning cafe called The Hat, (referring to the Hokage's hat of course.) Anko surprisingly paid the bill before returning to the training ground. Arms crossed over her breasts, Anko dropped her cheerful demeanor and switched to Instructor Mode.

"As you are well aware, you are an earth-natured person," she began without preamble. "What we are going to be spending the next month on is training you in earth manipulation."

"Anko, hold on. You are saying that you are going to teach me elemental manipulation? That is a jounin-level ability!"

"Yeah, it is. So it just means that if you can manipulate your earth element, it would definitely qualify you for promotion!"

Tenten sweatdropped. "Anko, it's _elemental _manipulation. It is supposed to take years of training to master, and you want me to do it in a month?"

"Oh, no. That would be ludicrous. I am going to be teaching you the barest basics of earth manipulation. No matter how hard you try, there is very little that you are going to be able to use during the tournament."

"So if I am not going to be able to use a lot of what I will learn, why teach me it at all?"

Anko smirked and leaned in close. "Two reasons. One, nobody will be expecting you to know it, and even what little you will learn will be deadly."

"Alright. I guess I get what you are saying. But how will you teach me earth manipulation?"

"Oh, easy. It is because I am an earth-type too. Didn't I ever tell you that?" Tenten shook her head. "Hum, could have sworn I did. Oh well. Anyways, where was I? Oh, right. There are two immediate benefits to learning elemental manipulation. One is that any Earth Release ninjutsu will require less chakra than it used to. Remember, you mix your spiritual and physical energies in your hara before it is sent to your hands to be shaped into jutsu. Before now, the hand seals were forcing your chakra to change into earth-chakra, which is the easy way to do it and also the reason why you can use elemental ninjutsu your are not attuned to. But if you know how to recombine your chakra, you can create earth-chakra in your hara and then send it to your hands. Since you are changing your chakra to earth-chakra internally before it is used, more of your concentration can be directed to other things, such as measuring the amount of chakra to be used and forming your hand seals.

"The first stage of nature training is to familiarize yourself with your element. With a wind user, they would try to cut a leaf, a lightning user would study the flow of electricity through power lines, a water user would study the currents in a body of water. You are going to meditate and try to feel the earth below you. To anyone but an earth-natured person, the earth is an inanimate object. But to us earth-types, the earth is a dynamic and violent force. A warning in advance: never try to force the earth to do your bidding. To control the earth, one must submit to it's will and guide it to what you want. Now sit."

Tenten lowered herself to the ground, crossing her legs and setting her palms on her knees. Anko settled herself facing Tenten, knees touching. "I am going to guide you through your first study of the earth. Close your eyes. Calm yourself. Think of nothing. You are nothing. Now, gather your chakra, let it pool in your hara. When it is ready, let it drift down into the earth. Let your conscious follow it down, mingling with the ground beneath you. Let your chakra spread out, saturating the earth, becoming the earth." Anko's voice started at a normal volume, but seemed to fade, as if coming from a distance, barely audible, but still distinct. She let her thoughts flow down into the brown earth beneath her with her chakra, seeping into each composite particle. She felt the incredibly slow and subtle shifting of the earth beneath her, a heartbeat spanning millennia, centuries passing between each titan beat.

As she meditated, she felt the earth almost... reciprocate her seeking, seemingly extending itself into her, trying to learn her as she was trying to learn it. As soon as the feeling began, she was ripped awake by a sharp stinging pain across her cheeks. Wrenching her eyes open, for they seemed reluctant to do so, she gazed on Anko, who was now standing, an arm extended, hand open. Sluggish moving one of her hands to cup her stinging cheek, she felt a hand print there. Tenten was about to ask why Anko had slapped her when Anko answered it for her.

"Son of a bitch, that was a surprise. What the hell did you do Tenten-chan?" But before the brunette kunoichi could answer, Anko answered herself. "Look down, Tenten-chan."

Doing as told, Tenten lowered her gaze and instantaneously noticed two things. One, she was buried chest-deep in a pool of drying mud, and two, her skin had taken a dark, loamy tone. Tenten looked back up to her instructor, speechless in her confusion. "Come on, give me your arms, let me pull you out of there." Anko and Tenten locked limbs and Anko leaned back, trying to pry her student out of the clingy mud. Finally with a wet _shloop _Tenten stumbled to her feet.

"Hot damn, but I bet you are wondering what the hell just happened." Tenten nodded numbly in affirmation. "Kid, you somehow managed to simultaneously do one of the easiest and hardest things to do as a earth-type. The easy part was letting the earth take you too far in, which is the leading cause of death for more earth-types other than combat. The hard thing was taking the earth into you."

"Huh?"

"Alright, let me explain. You gave too much of yourself to the earth, and in return, the earth started taking you also. It is the easiest and deadliest mistake you can ever make. When learning the earth, you have to learn how much to give to the earth, so you can find your way back to your body. It is not easy, but will come with time. The other thing was that you managed to draw the essence of the earth into yourself. That is the highest level of earth manipulation possible. It requires an empathy, an intimate knowledge a dozen times beyond what you should be able to have already. Basically, you were taking on the attributes of the earth.

"The technique is called elemental assimilation. As you can imagine, each element modifies different attributes. Earth increases skin density, physical strength and weight. Wind allows limited flight by decreasing body density but also weakens it, making the body more easily injured. Lightning increases speed far beyond the human norm, in certain cases almost able to move faster than the Sharingan can track. Water allows manipulation of body chemistry, for example letting you turn your body to water to let objects pass through. Fire, surprisingly, is the healing element, not water, as many would think. Fire lets a person alters the patient's body chemistry to fight off infection. Also, elemental assimilation allows a person to manipulate the element directly. For example, a fire-type can wreathe herself in fire, burning others who come into close contact with her while remaining immune. Additionally, the person, with a few exception, will have a temperament similar to their element. Both lightning- and fire-types are quick to anger, but lightning-type's will be short lived while a fire-type's is longer lasting, will continue to burn long after the argument has passed. Earth types are stolid and unyielding, wind is chaos incarnate and water is gentle and accommodating."

"But Hinata is a lightning-type, yet I don't know anyone who is gentler or kinder than her."

"Well there are exceptions to every rule. I agree, judging her solely by her temper, Hinata is a classic water-type. On the other hand, I can't think of anyone who is more suited to fire than the Uchiha. I can't think of the last time I saw him smile, and he can hold a grudge. If you think about it, you can match up the Hokages to their elements by their tempers and the roles they played. The Shodai was a wood-type, the element of life, created Konoha. The Nidaime was a water type, responsible for our survival through even-handed negotiation with the other countries. Once Konoha had attained a position of power, the Sandaime, who is an earth-type, kept the quid pro quo, and when the Third Ninja War broke out, it was the Yondaime that ended the war like his lightning element. Anyways, I seemed to have gone a bit off topic. How about we break for lunch before continuing?"

Tenten wrinkled her brow in confusion. "Lunch? But I was only meditating for a few minutes. "

Anko smirked at her. "Look around kid." When she did, she saw that the sun, which had barely risen above the horizon when she had started, was now reaching it's zenith. "What the hell," she mumbled.

"One of the properties of earth is that it is timeless. When immersing yourself, as you have already found out, there is virtually no sense of time. That is why I will always supervise you while meditating. It is possible to starve to death while meditating with the earth."

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, lunch a barbecue restaurant and then back to meditating with the earth. She didn't manage the elemental assimilation this time, and only sank down to her navel in mud rather than her chest. Tenten slogged her way home that evening, filthy from training, smelling faintly of decomposed organic matter. She left her sandals by the door and tiptoed upstairs, so as to track as little dirt and mud as she could. She smacked her clothes against the outside window sill, dislodging fistfuls of mud before dumping the clothes in the hamper.

She lingered in the shower for almost half and hour, letting the heat soak into her clammy skin. Once properly clean and smelling of ocean breeze shampoo and conditioner, she shut the water off, wrapped a towel around her torso and went to her room. She froze in surprise when she saw a blushing Naruto on her bed. After a second she blushed too. While the towel did keep her modest, it did expose a lot of leg and a fair amount of chest.

"N-naruto-kun, what are you doing here?" Tenten stammered.

"Ah, I was looking for you. It is late, so I figured I would wait for you at your house, rather than run all over town," he replied, averting his gaze as he spoke. Hopping off the bed he shuffled to the door, keeping his eyes on the floor. Tenten moved out of the way, letting him close the door behind her. Changing into a set of black silk pajamas, she opened the door. Naruto stole a quick glance at her, as if she would open the door if she were naked, then stepped inside.

"I don't suppose my parents know you are here," she asked him.

"Do you think your dad would give me the time of day, let alone leave me in your room alone?" Tenten smirked. "Yeah, me too," Naruto continued. Tenten approached him and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him soundly. Tenten made an agreeable noise when he hoisted her up to his waist, Tenten wrapping her legs around him immediately. Naruto carried her to the bed and threw her down before settling himself beside her.

"Did you miss me?" Naruto asked as Tenten pillowed her head on his bicep.

"Like you wouldn't believe. Anko has been her usual slavedriver self when it comes to training. I've been lea-" Tenten was cut off by Naruto placing his hand over her mouth.

"Don't tell me anything about what you have been learning Tenten-chan. After all, we might have to face each other in the tournament. And I don't want to have an advantage over you at all. I want you to surprise me with what you have learned from Mom. But there is something I want you to promise me."

"Anything Naruto-kun."

"Promise me if we should meet in the tournament, you won't hold back. Fight with everything you got and I will do the same. I don't want you to lose because we are dating. Okay? But no talk about training or fighting or anything work-related right now."

Tenten nodded. Neither one said anything for a few minutes until Naruto spoke again. "Tenten-chan, I want to ask you something."

Turning her face up to his, she was troubled by the indecision that he seemed to be dealing with. "Ask me. You should know by now that you can ask me anything." She sat up and crossed her legs, wondering what he was doing, then abruptly very sure what he was doing. Naruto reached into his pocket and withdrew a dark velvet box, kneeling on one knee. Her breath hitched in her chest as he snapped it open, revealing a very respectable engagement ring.

"Higurashi Tenten-san, would you honor me by giving your hand in marriage?"

Tenten was momentarily captivated by the sparkling diamond set into the thin gold band, designed to be one of a pair. Slowly, she raised her gaze from the begemmed ring to Naruto. "Naruto" she choked out, dropping the usual suffix as a sign of intimacy, "I would like nothing more than to marry you. But I can't," she continued hurriedly as his face fell. "You are already married to Hinata. You can't marry me too."

"Don't worry about the legalities. If I were completely unencumbered, would you say yes?"

"You can't imagine how fast."

"I will take that as a yes then." And before she could protest, he deftly caught her hand with both of his and slipped the gold ring onto her hand. She knew she should take the ring off, that there was no possible way for Naruto to manage what he said he could, but she couldn't bring herself to remove the ring he had placed on her finger. It was sure to draw attention and bring awkward questions, but right now, those uncomfortable questions were far and Naruto was right here in front of her. In the end, she decided, she really didn't care what anyone other than those on her team thought about her. If they wanted to disapprove, well, let them. As long as she was with Naruto, the world could burn, although Naruto would be troubled to know to what lengths he would go to keep him. When everything was through, Naruto was a good man, willing to do whatever was required of him to protect the village that had never accepted him in the least.

She was drawn out of her brown study by Naruto's lips, warm and insistent, determined to keep her from thinking about his proposal too much now that it was done. He would go to the ends of the earth to marry his love, laws, societal customs and prohibitions be damned.

OoOoO

**Twenty-nine days until the Final Chunin Exam**

Naruto spent the night, sleeping on a pallet of blankets on the floor while Tenten was in her bed. He unmade the pallet and put the blankets away while it was still dark. He left a note on her nightstand and kissed her goodbye. He did not want to be caught in her room by her parents under any conditions. They were normally friendlier than most, but had cooled towards him since he married Hinata and kept dating Tenten. Slipping out the window, he headed toward the Hokage Tower, still dark, but not for long.

Sarutobi was startled by the lounging figure of Naruto in the large leather chair specially commissioned to help ease the old-man pains in his body that accumulated after six or seven hours of hunching over paperwork.

"Well hello Naruto-kun. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company this early in the morning?"

"I have a question for you Old Man." Sarutobi nodded for him to continue as he set his things down and started brewing a pot of coffee. "What would you say if I asked Tenten to marry me?"

Sarutobi stilled his hands and turned to face Naruto. The boy was regarding him with what would be uncharacteristic seriousness as short a time as a year ago, but since graduation, he had been forced to mature abnormally fast. Admittedly, any genin matured faster than was normal for a person of their age, but Naruto had grown up even faster than that.

"Naruto, please do not do this. You are treading on very dangerous ground here."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Bigamy is illegal, and has been so since I was originally named Hokage. The Clan Repopulation Act was created by the Shodai as an effort to create a functional ninja force. I abolished it as it had become an excuse for a man to marry more women than he could financially support and discard when convenient."

"That wouldn't happen to me. I would never neglect or discard wither Hinata or Tenten in the least way."

"I know that. But it does not change the fact that it remains illegal."

"Alright then. Hypothetically speaking, what would happen if someone were to maintain more than one wife?"

"That man if a civilian, would be exiled from Konoha for life. If he were a ninja, the situation is a little more delicate. For a genin or chunin with no official duties, he would be imprisoned indefinitely until he were to declare his intent to keep only one wife. For an assigned chunin or jounin, tokubetsu or full, it would result in a severe fine and ordered to separate from one of his wives, or face indefinite imprisonment."

Naruto considered the Hokage's words while he continued to speak. "Naruto, I will warn you, attempting to marry Higurashi-san will earn you no friends in the village. You know that are not doing yourself any favors by continuing to see Higurashi-san socially. Most people take a very dim view on bigamy nowadays. I fear for both your and Higurashi-san's wellbeing should you do this thing."

"I am already despised for having the Kyuubi sealed in me. How much worse could it get?"

"I know that you are treated badly by most of the civilians, but what about Higurashi-san? She has lived a normal life thusfar. Do you honestly want to subject her to the hate and ridicule that she would be forced to endure? And what about your first wife? She would surely endure much of the degradation that Higurashi-san would face, for many of the same reasons."

"Yeah. But it would not be the first time that someone else was hurt because of me." Naruto stood up and opened one of the floor-to-ceiling windows. "Thanks for nothing Old Man."

"Naruto, hold on." Naruto turned partway to face him, holding the window open. Sarutobi hesitated. He knew of a way to let Naruto marry both Hinata and Tenten, but he wasn't sure if he should tell the boy. After Sarutobi held his silence for a handful of seconds, Naruto turned to leave again. "Konoha disallows a bigamous marriage, but upholds the sanctity of a marriage performed in another country."

Smiling slightly, Naruto nodded back at the Hokage and dropped out of the Tower. It was only then that Sarutobi realized that he had been played.


	19. Ten Days

**Chapter Nineteen: Ten Days**

**Twenty days until the Final Chunin Exam**

Jiraiya looked on in mild irritation as the blond brat woke him up at some obscene hour of the morning, (he refused to look at the battery-powered clock, for if he did, he would probably be forced to kill the boy,) and proceeded to channel chakra into the rubber ball held in his hand until it exploded. When Jiraiya lowered his hands at the unexpected detonation, his ire was only slightly soothed by his protege's bloodshot eyes and dark bags under his eyes. Clearly, he had been up all night practicing the second step to the Rasengan, and just as clearly, it could have waited until after breakfast.

"Brat, you are an ass for multiple reasons. One, you woke me up at," he dared to look at the clock, "six a.m. Two, you woke me by exploding a rubber ball in my ear. And three, there is no way you should be able to do that for another six months. At least."

Naruto, feeling as haggard as he looked, took a second to assimilate what Jiraiya had said. A slow smirk curling his lips, he asked, "hey Ero-sennin, did you just compliment me?"

"Surely not. You need to get your ears checked."

"No, I am pretty sure you did. You said I did in a little over a week what should have taken me six months." Instead of the expected witticism in reply, Naruto saw that Jiraiya had laid back on his bedroll and gone back to sleep. Scowling at the elderly ninja, Naruto dug another rubber ball out and exploded it in Jiraiya's ear again.

Scowling impressively, Jiraiya stuck a pinkie in his ear and wiggled it about. "I guess you aren't going to let me go back to sleep any time soon."

"Not until you show me the third stage to the Rasengan at least." Grumbling inaudibly Jiraiya leaned over and pulled his pack into his lap. Inflating one of the balloons used in the first stage with air, he held it in one hand. "This," he said, gesturing to the balloon, "is the third stage." Naruto looked thoroughly unimpressed. "It does not look like much, but this is what I am really doing." Holding out his left hand, what appeared to be a full-sized typhoon compressed into a palm-sized ball formed.

"The final stage of Rasengan training uses both the chaotic flow of the chakra mastered in the first step and the power of the second, maxing both out. But you also have to contain it all into the proper shape. The difference is between this," he pressed a stage-two Rasengan into the ground, carving several spiraling trenches an inch deep, "and this," pressing a fully formed Rasengan, creating a hole the exact diameter of his Rasengan.

Having explained the final step in Rasengan training, Jiraiya went back to sleep. Having gotten what he wanted from him, Naruto let him rather than explode another ball in his ear, although he considered it. Instead, he walked away from the camp, out of earshot and tried it. He shook his hand when the balloon popped almost immediately, palm stinging.

Concentrating, he blew up another balloon and channeled the chakra to it. Jiraiya had made it stupidly easy, barely even having to glance at either hand. He could keep it under control while just spinning the air inside the ball, but before he even got to apply ten percent of the power required to pop the rubber ball, the balloon popped. A third balloon popped as the first two did, as did the fourth. Seeing that doing the same thing over was not getting the results he wanted, he sat down and closed his eyes. Bringing up the sight of Jiraiya's explanation with the eidetic memory that every ninja was trained to have, he replayed the scene. He examined the sight of the left-handed Rasengan. The raging vortex cupped in his palm was spinning so wildly and with such power that it looked like there was a wall of chakra around the whole thing. "Wait a minute..." Playing the scene over and over in his mind, he became certain that was the secret to the third step.

Holding the balloon carefully in both hands, he formed a thin wall of chakra before creating the vortex in the center of the balloon. He wholly expected it to work on the first try so that is why when the balloon exploded with a rushing gust of wind and a stinging in his palms he was more than a little annoyed. Setting his mouth in a thin line he ignored the pain in his arms and hands and soldiered on. He would master this technique before the tournament no matter what.

OoOoO

"Again!" the man calmly ordered.

The girl, no more than fourteen, pressed her sweaty palms to her head, slicking stray hairs back. Sliding into a starter stance, ready to leap to attack or shift to defend, the black haired girl ducked slightly and then leaped forward, low to the floor of the dojo, the first strike of the older man's retaliatory attack passing close enough to her scalp to part her hair. The second jab missed also, coming not quite contacting the girl's shoulder as she leaned to her left, putting most of her weight on her left foot, the right hand that hand been curled in close to her side leaping forward, two fingers stiffening to strike a solid jab under the man's floating ribs.

Holding her two fingers there for a few tense seconds, Hinata exhaled a sigh of relief when her father stepped back and gave a slight nod. Hinata barely managed to get a knee under her before she faceplanted. Wrapping an arm around her chest, she leaned back on her haunches, breathing heavily. Seeing Hinata's face tighten into a pained grimace, Hiashi stepped back. Taking several deep breaths, Hinata focused on the pain, accepting it as the way of her body telling her it was damaged. Exhaling, she let her awareness of the pain fade until it was just a buzz at the back of her head.

Rising to her feet, she raised her hands into a defensive position, Hinata nodded at Hiashi, telling him she was ready to begin again. To her surprise, her father instead shook his head. Years before, when he had held the hope that she could be the Hyuuga heiress she was meant to be, he would demand they continue to spar until Hinata finally gave into her weakness and could continue no more. But when she had recovered enough to resume training, Hiashi had told her that he would be supervising her training once again.

However, a strange hesitance seemed to hold him back during their spars. He was not the implacable taskmaster that he had once been, more subdued, not as aggressive. He always seemed to be on guard in her presence, almost as if he expected an attack from her at any moment. The only emotion that Hinata imagine causing this change in him was fear, fear of her. But that was patently ridiculous. There was no way that her father could fear her. He openly admitted that the only person he had ever truly feared was the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato. Sarutobi Hiruzen was a badass among a village well known for their badasses, ultimately attaining the nickname God of Shinobi, but did not possess the utter ruthlessness that the his successor and predecessor had been legendary for. One did not argue with Namikaze Minato, not and leave with steady knees and a full bowel. The Yondaime had such a force of presence that he was fully capable of sending most full jounin scurrying with merely a look.

While the vast majority of the population adored the legendary man, he was respected, but never liked by the Clans. Coming from a totally unremarkable ninja family, both in size and ability, Namikaze had held a slightly contemptuous view of the privileged Clans, and a number of decrees he had issued made this clear. For one, he had abolished a number of statutes giving Clan members, heirs especially, preferential treatment in the Academy.

At a glance, Konoha's shinobi corps seemed to be a single cohesive unit, but in fact was divided into three groups. Foremost among them were the Clans, families of ninja with either a bloodline or secret techniques. Next were the ninja families, families of ninja with no special abilities or techniques, constituting the majority of the corp. Third were the orphans, either true orphans or ninja coming from civilian families.

Even the Clans were not a singular entity, but divided between the Bloodline and Secret Technique Clans with the Bloodline Clans elevated slightly over the Secret Technique Clans.

A Clan heir was virtually invincible, only most heinous criminal wrongdoings able to be prosecuted in court. The members of a family were still protected from a good deal of culpability, but less likely to be vigorously defended from an indictment. The orphans however, were viewed as second class citizens almost. Virtually all Clansmen who entered the Academy graduated in the top half of their class and topped out as chunin at least. About two thirds of family members who entered the Academy graduated and were promoted to chunin at most, and less than a quarter of the orphans who entered the Academy even graduated at all.

Hinata schooled her face to impassivity, carefully hiding her shock as her father waved her off. In all the time that she had trained with him, she couldn't once remember him ending a spar while she could still stand. Nodding to her, Hiashi walked over to the wall, where there were benches for spectators to sit and competitors to rest and recover. Tossing her a bottle of cold water in an almost disturbing display of amicability, he also passed her a towel and motioned for her to sit next to him. Hinata did so slowly, wary of a trap or trick of some sort.

The pair sat in silence for several minutes, Hinata wondering what the hell was going on with her father, who, up until very recently, had washed his hands of her. Sipping her water and mopping her brow with the terrycloth towel, she nearly started when Hiashi spoke.

"Daughter, I know we have not always gotten along." Hinata interrupted him with a snort. "Alright, rarely gotten along. But you must know that I have always done what I have done because it is what is best for the Clan."

"Father, cut the bullshit. We haven't gotten along since Mother died. It took me a few years, but I have long since realized that she was the only thing that kept you from taking me and throwing me in the dojo as soon as I could walk. What do you want?"

Hiashi was arguably the second most powerful man in the village, after the Hokage, and one did not get to such a position by wearing one's emotions on one's sleeves. Even so, Hiashi was hard pressed not to decry the young woman sitting next to him as an impostor. Hiashi nodded in acquiescence. "All right. I will speak plainly then." He shifted on the wooden bench to face Hinata's profile. "I am going to resume supervision of your training."

Hinata took a sip of her water and eyed him carefully. "And why is that Father? I lost my match against Neji. Isn't he the one who should be receiving your tutelage?"

"No. Neji is not and never will be Clan heir. You are, and given your recent changes in temperament, I think you have finally begun to become worthy of the title."

Hinata was silent for a long time before she chose to answer. "Father, for once, I think we are in agreement, but not for the reason you might think."

"And what is your reason?"

Hinata shook her head. "What do you wish me to learn Father? I assume it is to be Jyuuken, because you have never had any complaint in how I run the household."

"You are correct in that assumption. Given your newfound desire to better yourself, I think it is time for you to learn the Eight Trigams Style."

Hinata glanced over to her father and nodded. Setting her water down, she wiped her forehead again before walking to the center of the dojo. Hiashi followed her onto the floor and stood opposite her.

"Activate your Byakugan." Complying, Hinata formed the chain of hand seals, feeling the blood vessels leading to her eyes swell in response.

Hiashi stood behind her and moved her into the initial stance. "With hands and feet spread, envision yourself at the center of the ba gua. There is only you and your target, nothing else. There are six sets of strikes: first set, two; second set, two; third set, four; fourth set, eight; fifth set, sixteen; sixth set, thirty-two. Start with the fifth and sixth aortal tenketsu and continue in the fourth center attack sequence until you reach the eighth abdominal tenketsu, then shift to the second wide attack sequence, finishing with the third bicep tenketsu."

Approaching the Jyuuken training dummy, he performed the attack at one-third speed, making sure that Hinata was paying attention. The dummy was a style manufactured with chakra-sensitive wire woven into it in the pattern of the chakra circulatory system, knotted where the three hundred sixty-one tenketsu were. There was a palm-sized plate placed in the center of the crown where it was charged by channeling a little chakra into via touch. Hinata watched as the wires woven through the dummy glowed a dull blue to her eyes, the "tenketsu" glowing brighter where her father touched.

As usual, there was not a single wasted movement, every motion focused on the attack. Just a few short months ago, her father's grace would have intimidated her into failure. Now, she knew she could not afford such a debilitating emotion. She told herself that she could not afford inadequacy, that this was something she would do, no matter how long it took her to master it. She could no longer depend on Naruto to defend her. If he had to split his attention between focusing on his own fight and hers, the time would come that it would cost him, possibly his life, and that was patently unacceptable.

Approaching the dummy, she slid into the low initial stance for the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms. Taking a deep breath to settle her nerves, she looked back on her training and brought the appropriate attack routines to mind. Exhaling, Hinata leaned forward into the first two strikes of the attack. Fifty seconds later, she tapped the final two tenketsu on the dummy's upper arms and stood up. She winced as she saw several of the target tenketsu still wide open. Counting them, she had missed four tenketsu, a full one-sixteenth of the total strikes. And to make things worse, they were all in the center of the chest, where there were close to a dozen tenketsu close together.

In some ways, she had the most developed Byakugan in the Clan, and somewhat mediocre in others. Nobody could see farther than she could, but her extreme range came at the cost of precision, as she sometimes had trouble pinpointing the correct tenketsu in that mass. Flaring her chakra briefly, she flushed the dummy out and tried again. And again, and again. By the time that the sun would be highest in the sky, Hinata's fingers were throbbing and starting to sting from overexertion. The training dummy had been charged with her chakra so many times that it practically glowed. A light sheen of sweat glistened on her skin, her ninja mesh clinging to her torso. Her bulky coat lay to one side, discarded an hour into training.

Hinata nearly jumped when the clatter of a tray of food broke her concentration. Looking to where the food was being set out by a young Branch member, symbolized by the black scarf she wore over her forehead, she shook her hands and walked over. Seating herself on the bench and taking a bite of food, she peered at the girl. The onigiri fell from senseless fingers when the girl finally stood up, her long hair falling back to reveal her face. Hinata froze for the few seconds it took for her to accept that she was seeing who she thought she was seeing.

"Hanabi-chan?"

Hanabi bent down to pick up the dropped onigiri and set it to one side. "Yes Hinata-sama?"

Hinata just looked at her little sister for a few seconds, making sure it actually was her sister. "What happened Hanabi-chan?"

Hanabi straightened, eyes lowered, hands folded, picture-perfect posture of a Branch member addressing the a member of the Main House. "You were named Hiashi-sama's heir, Hinata-sama. I was relegated to the Branch House, as there can only be one heir to the Main House."

"Father?"

"What? You knew this was coming when you were named heiress. Your sister knew it as well, and has come to terms with it. Correct Hanabi-chan?"

"Correct Hiashi-sama. I now see that you are the one best suited to lead the Clan, Hinata-sama? Is there anything else I can do for your right now?"

Hinata shook her head. Hanabi bowed and excused herself. She spent the rest of the brief meal in sullen silence. When the pair returned to training, Hiashi noted the redoubled effort that Hinata exerted. He knew what fueled her, he was not blind. He did not particularly care either. At the moment, he would use her determination. He could correct her emotions later.

Hinata, on the other hand, channeled all her anger into the dummy. She had seen Hanabi at several meals immediately after her confirmation unsealed, but had spent the last several months either out of the village or training from sunup to sundown, so she had not seen her little sister in quite some time. She had thought that her father would have told her if Hanabi had been moved to the Branch House. Unlike Hanabi, Hinata loved her sister dearly, partly as she was the last piece of her mother. Hanabi had been too young when she had died, so had no memories of her. Hinata, however, had adored her mother, and been devastated when she had died.

By the time Hinata went to bed, she was exhausted and rolled into bed almost before she was undressed. She really wasn't mad at her father, she knew that she shouldn't have expected anything else from him. She knew that he always looked out for the Clan first and would do anything he saw as necessary, no matter who it hurt even if that person was his own daughter. Despite the fact that Hanabi was a member of the Clan, he saw nothing wrong with placing a seal that had only one purpose: enslavement. She knew the origins of the Caged Bird Seal. It was a well known fact that the Sharingan evolved from the Byakugan. What was not so well known was that the Caged Bird Seal was only created after the Main House lost control of the Sharingan. The First Clansman back then had ordered the Clan's foremost seal masters craft a seal that would prevent anyone bearing the seal from breaking away from the Clan again.

Of course, that same seal was immediately applied to everyone who had a working knowledge of it, to prevent it from falling outside of the Clan's control. The only reason why the Main House had absolute control over the Branch House was because they were the only ones who could activate the seal. If another group were to gain the ability to activate the seal, they could give conflicting orders and let the Branch member choose which to follow. If the Branch members were to gain to ability to choose which orders to follow and which to ignore, that would be the beginning of the end of the Clan. Not to mention how a single person would be able to kill any Branch member with a single seal.

One aspect of the seal was that it was permanent. Once applied, one was forever subject to the whims of someone able to activate the master seal. Naruto had promised her to try to develop a counterseal to negate the effects of the Caged Bird Seal. She had smuggled a blueprint of the seal out to Jiraiya trying to enlist his assistance in the crafting but had been refused. The Caged Bird Seal was an internal Hyuuga matter and that he had no standing to try to create a counterseal without Hiashi's consent. If he were to create a counterseal, and not even the Hokage would be able to help him when Hiashi eventually found out (and he almost certainly would) and had him charged with interfering with administration of his Clan. Jiraiya's refusal had not deterred Naruto in the least though.

As Hinata lay in her bed in the dark, she couldn't help but think of Naruto's visit the previous week.

**Flashback no Jutsu**

**Twenty-eight days until the Chunin Final Exam**

Hinata was in her and Naruto's sitting room, kneeling at the work desk on the wall. Next to the desk was a beige filing cabinet and a safe built into the floor. The desk only had one drawer, for writing utensils and paper, but was tilted and had a writing lamp attached to make a comfortable work station. A thick tome was cracked open, marked with columns of numbers and letters, a calculator to one side and an ink well for her old-fashioned fountain pen. Her mother had favored that particular pen for balancing the books and so did she.

So absorbed was she in the numbers that she nearly blotched the paper when Naruto hugged her from behind. Laying the pen down carefully, she turned around and gave him a welcome-home kiss. Marking her place, Hinata carefully blotted the wet ink and turned to give Naruto her full attention.

"Good morning, love," Naruto murmured.

"Good morning to you too," Hinata replied.

"Whatchya doing?"

"Balancing the coffers." Naruto shuddered.

"Numbers. Ick." Hinata just grinned. However loudly Naruto might proclaim his aversion to any type of paperwork, he was extraordinarily good at it. Hinata had been looking after the books for several years now, yet she usually had Naruto take a quick look over the ledger as well. While she never fudged the numbers, he occasionally found ways to save money, like knowing where to buy in bulk from the manufacturers themselves or managers specials on food that was nearing the expiration date and such.

"Was there something you wanted Naruto-kun?"

"Do I need a reason to come home and kiss my wife now?" he asked in mock affront.

"No, but you should be with Jiraiya-sama training."

"Not anywhere near a problem. The real me is still with the pervert."

"I see. If that is true, then I don't need to worry about getting you back any time soon then?"

"Nope. I am all yours all day."

"Good. Because that means you can come with me when I go to see Senna-sama."

Naruto paled. Hyuuga Senna was quite possibly the oldest person in Konoha. No one knew exactly how she was a Hyuuga, and no one really had the balls to ask. Even Hiashi walked small and minded his manners. Well, he didn't walk small precisely, but he sure as hell watched what he said around her. Hinata thought she was her great grandmother at least, as she was unsealed, and mentioned Senjuu Hashirama as if she knew him personally.

To Naruto, it seemed that the old witch enjoyed playing the crotchety old lady far too much for his liking. The crone was more than prone to pinch his cheeks and ruffle his hair and call him Minato, although a glint in her eyes when she called him by his father's name made his suspect that she was just screwing with him. Naruto, nigh-legendary for his brashness didn't dare call her Old Lady, at least to her face. She was, without a doubt, the only person he truly feared. He knew how to handle his mother well enough most of the time, the Hokage was the closest thing he had to a grandfather and he had never really seen Hiashi in action.

Had he not known better, he would have sworn that she had closer to eight arms rather than two, given how easily she was able to tuck him into a smelly overstuffed armchair and read his palms, hemming and hawing at how his pupils were to small, forcing him to eat tooth-chipping rock cakes and all the while fluttering over how he would grow up into a fine young man. As if he wasn't already. A man that was. He loathed the day that anyone would be able to call him "fine" in that tone.

"Ah, well..."

"No, no last-minute appointments Naruto-kun. You said you were mine all day, and all day it will be."

Clone-Naruto briefly considered dispelling to avoid the crazy lady. But there was a reason why he had come to see Hinata, and it was important. Pulling her to her feet, clone-Naruto led Hinata over to the red futon and sat next to her, an arm around her shoulder. He let his face fall into a neutral expression and looked Hinata directly in the eyes.

"Actually, there was a reason why I came to visit you today." Hinata nodded, and remained silent, letting him come to it in his own time. She would reserve judgment when she had all the facts, and not before.

"I don't have to remind you that I love you absolutely Hinata-chan, as I love Tenten-chan absolutely. Things have not always been smooth between us, and we will have problems in the future. But I know that we will be able to work them out in the end. I will admit that I sometimes give Tenten a little more attention than I do you, but it is not because of anything you or she have ever done. I won't say that Tenten has more problems than you do, because that is not true, but ever since I married you, she has had to face new difficulties that she didn't have to before. I worry about her sometimes, about how she gets along with her parents, how she doesn't have anyone to really relate to in out age group, how she seems to work herself to exhaustion too often."

Hinata nodded in solemn agreement as Naruto talked. She had noticed that Naruto did sometimes seem to almost fawn over Tenten at times and while he had never neglected her, Naruto occasionally didn't really give her his full attention when they were together. And while she understood Tenten's predicament and agreed with Naruto's assessment, it was reassuring to hear him say that it wasn't because of anything on her part.

While she and Tenten were friends, it was not the same kind of friendship they would otherwise have had. Hinata could tell that Tenten did not always tell her everything that she and Naruto did together, because Hinata did the same thing herself. Their reticence wasn't a reluctance to discuss Naruto, quite the opposite; every once in a while, the pair would have a girls-day-out, at times joined by Anko and discuss Naruto at length. They would theorize as to his quirks and idiosyncrasies (such as his unwavering dislike of tempura,) and various tics, how he liked to rub noses, and hated for anyone to pat his head or try to smooth his hair. But their sharing of experiences only went so far, by unstated but mutually understood agreement.

For example, Tenten had never told Hinata how Naruto had slept in her room on more than one occasion, nor had Hinata told Tenten that Naruto swapped pillows with her, because he said he liked smelling her as he fell asleep, as it gave him good dreams. The last thing either woman wanted was to find out that Naruto, despite all evidence to the contrary, did favor one over the other. It was not entirely dissimilar to two women discussing a mutual ex-husband, neither woman telling the other everything that the man in question had done to or for them, lest they find out that they were not as special as he had told them they were.

"She tries to hide it, and does fairly well, but I have seen her look at your ring, and mine. She hasn't said anything, but I can tell that she doesn't feel equal to you. That is why I went and proposed to her yesterday."

"Naruto-kun, you didn't!" Naruto barely suppressed a wince, while Hinata didn't precisely recoil from him, there was more disapproving shock than he would have liked to hear. "That is illegal, you could get imprisoned for that! Naruto-kun. I know that you love her, but I know that she wouldn't want you to anything that would land you in jail. If our situation was reversed, I know that I would feel that way."

Naruto kept quiet while Hinata protested his plan. "I went to talk to the Hokage about it too." Hinata paled slightly and clutched his shirt. She knew that her husband and the Hokage were close, but she didn't know if that would preclude him from having Naruto arrested. "I told him that I wanted to marry Tenten, and he eventually told me how to. He was the one who told me that Konoha doesn't let a man have more than one wife, but he did say that Konoha respects the legality of a marriage performed in another country."

"Well, that sounds alright, but do you know of a country that will marry a pair of foreigners? A justice of the peace in any land I can think of would require proof of citizenship."

"Well, I was thinking that Tazuna, from Wave, could probably help us out. And if Wave doesn't work out, I could contact Sora and see what she could do."

"Sora, the Jinchuuriki from Mist?" Hinata clarified.

"Yeah. I mean, she is pretty close to the Mizukage, from what she has told me, and I am pretty sure that a marriage performed by the head of Kirigakure would be pretty binding."

"What about my father?"

"What about him?" Naruto seemed to be honestly puzzled by her turn-of-topic.

"I know that he would raise hell with anyone he could if you tried anything like this."

Naruto cocked his head, almost smirking as he answered. "This whole affair was his idea. If he doesn't like it, then tough luck. Your father will have to get over it."

Hinata sighed. "He is your father now, too Naruto-kun." Hinata mumbled as she leaned into him. Naruto in turn wrapped his arm around her, hugging her tightly. Whatever she may say, his basically asking permission to marry Tenten had to shake her confidence, even a little.

Lowering his voice, Naruto whispered into her ear, "I love you Hinata-chan, now and forever. There is nothing you can do to make me think otherwise. If you doubt everything else about me, never doubt that. You are mine, Hinata-chan. Mine and only mine." Hinata shivered slightly, liking the possessiveness in his growl, the promise that she had a place that no one else, not even Tenten could usurp, in his heart.

**Flashback no jutsu KAI!**

Smiling softly she closed her eyes, blanked her mind and allowed her exhaustion to overtake her and she slipped into dreamless sleep.

OoOoO

Tenten woke up a week and a half after the end of the Preliminary fights in her own bed. She glanced out at the grey predawn light as she rose and made her morning toilet. Putting on a blue sleeveless shirt, buttoning it up the side over a pair of black pants, she opened the warchest at the foot of her bed. She sorted through the assorted implements of death before tucking half a dozen kunai and shuriken scrolls in her shirt pockets and taped a pouch of kunai and shuriken to her legs. Grabbing a couple of loose kunai out of the bottom of the chest, she tucked one up each sleeve through the gun holster straps, one down the nape of her neck, one behind her belt by her two large pistols, finishing with one down the straps of each of her sandals. Shrugging to better settle the ninja mesh on her shoulders, she double checked everything and slipped out of the house without waking her parents.

The streets were fairly empty at this hour, as only the market was open this early of the morning. As one of Naruto's teammates, she was the focus of far more scrutiny than many other ninja of her age or rank. Since Sasuke Uchiha's court martial late last year, she had become even more famous, or perhaps infamous would be a better adjective. While she did not get the same treatment as Naruto or his mother, she did get the evil eye or cold shoulders on the street and bad service at restaurants, among other relatively minor inconveniences. For the most part, she just ignored the rude treatment and avoided the places where she couldn't. Ever since she had begun wearing the engagement ring that Naruto had given her relationship with her parents had cooled even more. When they had found out during Sasuke's court martial, they had been gently disapproving. But the longer she continued to date Naruto, the less veiled their opposition became. When she came downstairs the morning after Naruto's marriage proposal, she and her mother had their worst fight yet while her father wisely hid the dishes. She had crashed at Anko's for two days after that.

It had gotten to the point where she simply avoided them whenever she could. She understood their reasoning, they just wanted what they thought was best for her and they sincerely believed that Naruto was not who was best for her. She knew that she was reaching the end of her tolerance though. Tenten was starting to seriously consider moving out of her parents home and into one of her own. There were several blocks of the Shinobi District devoted to low rent housing for genin and new chunin, jokingly nicknamed the schoolyard. It was not entirely unheard of for an orphan genin to move out of their parents home and into the schoolyard in the first year of becoming genin.

Thinking about the training that she had received over the last three weeks, she was astounded at the progress she had made. Even given the minimal knowledge she had of elemental manipulation, her facility with earth-element techniques had increased by a factor of at least three. Aligning her chakra to earth was almost subconscious now, and her techniques barely needed a thought to direct them. Her Earth Release: Earth Serpent and its stronger version Earth Dragon almost seemed to have minds of their own, acting on her direction almost before she could think.

As was usual, Anko was already at the training grounds when she arrived, with the sun just peeking over the trees. Anko launched herself at Tenten from where she was perched on a tree branch. Tenten barely batted an eyelash as she whipped out a kunai, deflecting three slashes in under a second.

OoOoO

Half an hour later Anko called for an end. Tenten was covered in a light sheen of perspiration and took several deep breaths to calm down.

"Pretty good for a warm-up spar Panda-chan. You have gotten quite a bit faster. I liked how you jumped and caught that kunai that I deflected up and threw it back at me again. Anyways, on to the real training." Anko seated herself on the patch of dirt in the middle of the clearing and motioned for Tenten to sit down. "The technique I am going to teach you is a technique called Sound of Earth. It is not ninjutsu, genjutsu or taijutsu in the strictest sense. The simplest explanation is that the Sound of Earth Technique allows an earth-attuned person to see through the ground by sensing the vibrations caused by a person coming into contact with the ground.

"Take off your sandals and stand with your eyes closed. Focus on the earth, but do not let it draw you into it. Instead of looking at the earth as a whole, which is what you have been doing before, try to detect the different parts of the earth. Feel each grain of dirt under your feet, each pebble between your toes. Feel the shockwaves created by every living thing on the ground. Feel the grains of earth shifting against one another as they are moved." Anko started at normal volume but gradually faded out until her voice was naught but a murmur. Slowly, taking careful steps, Anko walked behind Tenten and raised a kunai to strike, only to quite unexpectedly have Tenten drop to her hands and toes in a leg sweep. Anko dodged it effortlessly of course, but she grinned ruefully, chuckling as Tenten faced her.

"Well, I should have seen that coming. Giving how easily you have been learning elemental manipulation, it would only make sense that you would grasp the Sound of Earth on your first attempt. Goddamn, but you are nothing but one surprise after another."

"So, I have a question Anko."

"Fire away."

"If you know the Sound of Earth Technique, how come I have never seen you use it?"

"What, you think that I have shown you every trick I have ever learned?" She paused a second before continuing. "To answer your question though, it is because I have never been able to do the technique. I have never been able to fine-tune my earth-sense enough to feel the shockwaves of people walking."

"So the student has already surpassed the master then?"

"Not by a long shot runt. But feel free to see who is the master anytime." Anko's glare might have intimidated someone less familiar with her personality, but Tenten knew she was just joking. Mostly. "Anyways, put this blindfold on. From now on, whenever we spar, half the time you will be doing it blindfolded."

Tenten accepted the cloth and bound her eyes. As soon as she did, she felt the rush of chakra as Anko did something. Sliding into a defensive stance, Tenten concentrated on the infinitesimal vibrations of the dirt beneath her feet. There was a dissonant vibration coming from ten o'clock, coming as fast as Anko could jog and not make any sound. When the shockwaves came so close together that Tenten knew that Anko was almost on top of her, she lashed out with a wild swing abruptly, which Anko blocked easily. The breath was knocked out of Tenten as Anko buried her fist in Tenten's gut. Stumbling back, she was surprised when a pair of arms seized her and pinned her.

Caught completely unawares as she was, she was still able to snap a kick into the side of her opponents knee. However she nearly lost her footing as her captor dissolved into cold and sticky mud. The sensation of cold mud dripping down the back of her shirt elicited an involuntary gasp from her but Anko did not continue the fight. When the shock wore off a few seconds later, Tenten raised the blindfold to peer at Anko.

"What the hell was that? How did that clone sneak up on me?"

"The mud clone that you destroyed is one of the few weaknesses in the Sound of Earth technique. As mud clones are made of earth element, they do not disturb the natural motions of the earth and as a result do not create shockwaves strong enough to be sensed."

"So, against anything but an earth technique, the Sound of Earth technique can tell me where someone or something is."

"Not exactly. Even certain kinds on earth techniques can be sensed, those that are particularly violent or disruptive, like the Heavenly Rising Spires, or Swamp of the Underworld, or the Earth Style Wall. There are few things more jarring than ripping a slab of stone out of the ground. Anyways, I have made the point I wanted to make. From now on, I won't be teaching you any more techniques. We will be sparring against each other every day, from now on."

"And how is that different from before?"

"The difference is that you will be using everything in your arsenal to try to beat me. The only way you can win a spar is if you use every technique you know at least once, and then completely disable me."

"Anko, Naruto-kun, Hinata-chan and I combined have never managed to beat you decisively, and I am supposed to do it on my own?"

"You are right in that respect. You have a snowball's chance in hell of beating me alone. But that is not the point of the exercise. The point is to make you learn your techniques so well that you don't have to even think before you use them. I want to drive your knowledge so deep that they are engraved on your bones. I am going to push you to the limits of what you are capable of so you know exactly how far you can go, and then keep going. If you think training has been hard up until now, then you won't know what hit you next."

Tenten grinned. "I was wondering when you were going to stop playing with kiddie gloves." Tenten successfully managed to hide her growing anxiety when Anko's smile turned downright _predatory._

"Kiddie gloves don't begin to cover it, little girl. Now get ready, 'cuz it would suck if I killed you right off the bat."

Tenten almost blinked as Anko dematerialized. Conscious thought took a back seat to trained instinct for the next few seconds as the two women exchanged a fierce barrage of punches and kicks. Three seconds and a dozen blocked punches, Tenten's forearms were aching. She ducked to the right and down, avoiding a straight punch that would have broken her nose otherwise. Latching onto Anko's extended arm, she pulled on it, driving her knee into Anko's sternum. The strike was textbook-perfect, but Anko hardly missed a beat as Tenten followed up with another knee strike to her face. Taking a single step back, Anko lashed out with a foot sweep while Tenten was still on one foot. Tenten caught herself in a reverse handspring and nearly caught Anko under the chin with a foot. Anko avoided her attack by leaping into a handspring herself, and both women ended up blocking the other's strikes with their shins.

Hands blurring, Tenten quickly exhaled, using a Wind Release: Windstream to keep Anko off balance while she drew Shrieking Fang and released it into it's secondary form. Holding the two tessen, she spun one end in a defensive figure eight. Wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth, Anko kept her grin firmly in place. Leaping forward to close the ten-meter gap between them, Anko barely blinked when Tenten quite predictably fired the one tessen directly at her. Deflecting the missile with both palms pushed her slightly off course, but Anko quickly corrected. As Anko came within striking distance, her eyes widened momentarily as she dove to one side. And she dodged barely in time too. She felt flecks to dirt patter against her cheek as the end of Shrieking Fang now occupied the space where her feet had been a split second before.

Anko gave a minuscule nod to Tenten, acknowledging her improved control over her zanpakuto. Wrapping the chain near each end of her zanpakuto around her hands to free them for hand seals, Tenten executed the Earth Release: Earth Style Wall not once, but four times, boxing herself in. Quirking her eyebrow at the odd maneuver, Anko nevertheless, jumped up to the top of the box, fully expecting Tenten to have some sort of trap set up. Alighting on the top of the wall, she applied chakra to the soles of her feet as Tenten appeared in front of her, lashing out with Shrieking Fang. Blocking the attack with a hastily drawn kunai, she pushed Tenten farther up into the air with a fist tot he point of her chin. Anko knew that she had fallen for Tenten's trap when the Tenten in from of her reverted to mud. Before Anko had a chance to swear mentally, she felt a hand on her ankle, and abruptly she was drawn down into the wall.

The real Tenten crouched on top of the wall and laid the edge of Shrieking Fang along her throat. "You know, Anko, I think I win."

"Not so fast young grasshoppa'." And as she said that, the wall she was encased in exploded. Tenten was tossed headfirst into the ground. Anko crouched over Tenten and waited for her to wake up. A few minutes later, Tenten started stirring and groaning. Grinning broadly at the egg growing on the back of her head, Anko uncharacteristically remained silent as Tenten sat up and gingerly felt the lump, wincing as it throbbed painfully. Picking Shrieking Fang up from where it had fallen, Tenten shakily sheathed the sword and collapsed in the shade.

Anko sat down next to her young pupil in silence, letting Tenten begin the conversation. "How?"

"Your wall was nowhere near thick enough to hold a mouse, let alone me. But points for creativity. This is just the kind of thing that I want you to try. That probably would have worked on any genin and most chunin short of a Hyuuga. Anyways, you have a concussion, so let's get you to the hospital.

Warding Anko off with one arm, she pushed herself to her feet while disagreeing. "No, I'm fine. Let's keep going." Tenten made it three steps before she stumbled and went to one knee, waited two heartbeats and threw up. Anko stood over her with her fists on her hips, an expression that said 'are you done being foolish now?' on her face. Looking up, Tenten grimaced. "Okay, okay, to the hospital it is then."

"Good. I was starting to wonder if my son was rubbing his thick skull off on you."

"Haha. Real funny. Now stop running your mouth and help me up." Anko knelt down and cupped her hands behind her, motioning for Tenten to climb on. She did, and hung her head over Anko's shoulder. Closing her eyes seemed to help alleviate the nausea and disorientation somewhat. Tenten thought she might have passed out briefly because the trip to the hospital didn't seem to take as long as it should have. Her arrival was met with the usual flurry of activity any such entrance might arouse. She was strapped down on a gurney in short order and closely inspected to make sure that a concussion was the worst of her worries. An IV was inserted in her arm to keep her hydrated and electrodes attached to her temples to monitor brain activity. Eventually the nurses and doctors concluded that she was in no immediate danger and after administering a small amount of healing chakra, was left with Anko.

Neither woman spoke for a few minutes, Tenten lost in her own thoughts, Anko considering how to best lead into the question she wanted to ask Tenten. After a minute, she decided just to ask. "Tenten, did Naruto propose to you?"

Tenten looked at Anko in surprise, quirking an eyebrow. "I am surprised that it took you so long to ask me that. But, yes he did. And before you say anything, we know about the anti-polygyny laws. Naruto said that he would find away around them, and I trust him."

"Actually, that wasn't what I was going to ask. You should know by now that the last thing on my mind is what is and isn't legal. Why do you think that I dress they way I do?"

"Okay then. Well, if you weren't going to ask about the laws, then what were you going to ask about?"

"Well, one, when is the wedding, and two, what is your married name going to be?"

"Ah, well, I haven't actually thought about that. It is an important decision though."

"Well, I don't suppose you will be taking Naruto's married name as yours."

"No, the last thing I want is to be a Hyuuga."

"Uzumaki Tenten. That doesn't have a bad sound."

Tenten repeated the name a few times aloud before smiling. "You are right. I think I like the sound of it."

"Well, I would hope you do. You have to use it for the rest of your life after all. Anyways, do have any idea where you would get married?"

"We really aren't sure yet. Naruto wants to wait until the Chunin Exams are done before we do any serious planning. But he did suggest maybe going back to Wave, or possibly to Mist. He thinks that if Tazuna can't help us, Sora could."

"Sora?" Anko asked.

"The Kiri-nin from the Chunin Exam the Prelims, remember? We met up the first day of the Exams for lunch and teamed up in the Forest of Death. She and Naruto seem to know each other pretty well. He said they had been exchanging letters for a while now. He figures that if he asked, she could see if the Mizukage would marry us."

"Heh. I would like to see the Council invalidate a marriage performed by the leader of Kiri herself."

"That was what Naruto figured. I doubt that they would be willing to offend the Mizukage over something relatively minor."

"What about Hinata? Have you spoken to her at all?

"Ah, not really. I have barely seen her at all since the end of the preliminaries. I have gone to the compound a couple of times but the guard won't even take a message for her, let alone let me in. My name might as well be mud as far as anyone other than Hinata is concerned. Not that I really care in any case."

"Well I was going to go check on her in the next couple of days. She hasn't been admitted to the hospital so far, but I have not seen here in a while either and I do want to make sure that Hiashi is letting her recover."

"With him, one is as likely as another."

"I suppose. Anyways, do tell her that I want to talk to her if you do see her at all."

"Sure thing. The doc said that you would be able to leave tomorrow, so we can go then."

OoOoO

Anko arrived the next morning to find Tenten tucking the last of her scrolls into their pockets. "Ready to go?"

"Just about."

The doctor had a brown clipboard on which he was making a few notations. "Please come back immediately should you suffer from dizziness, vomiting, trouble with your vision and disorientation or difficulty concentrating. The diagnostic technique doesn't show anything more than a bump on the head, but the brain is a delicate organ, and injuries are sometimes difficult to spot. If there is nothing else, I will leave you now."

"No, that is just about everything I can think of now." Giving both women a brief smile and a nod of the head, the white-coated doctor left. Shrugging her black leather trench coat on, Tenten hooked Shriekin Fang onto her belt, glanced around the room to make sure that she did not miss anything she strode out the door. Signing herself out at the front desk, the pair headed to the Hyuuga complex in silence. It took the pair almost fifteen minutes to navigate the streets and civilian crowds from the hospital all the way to their destination.

The two women waited in what could best be described as a lobby, were it in some sort of commercial building. There was a Branch Hyuuga blocking the only door in the room, following ever movement the pair made. After about fifteen minutes of waiting a single knock sounded and the Hyuuga stepped aside and opened the door. Hinata was escorted by a second Branch Hyuuga who held the door open for her to enter. Hinata hesitated for a split second before she dismissed the two Branch Hyuuga with a wave of her hand.

After the three exchanged slightly awkward greetings, Anko said, "Well, I am going to step outside for a few minutes now, I think."

Hinata quirked an eyebrow at that odd comment and turned back to Tenten. The brunette took a breath to steady her nerves, but before the brunette could say anything, Hinata spoke. "If you have come to tell me that Naruto has proposed to you, I already know." That took the wind out of Tenten's sails and left her blinking. "Naruto told me about how he proposed to you the day after he did it."

"Ah, well, I am not really sure what to say. You seem to already know everything."

"Naruto and I discussed it a bit, but I would not say that. But do let me say that I am glad for you and Naruto."

"Ah... I... That..." Realizing that she was stuttering, Tenten closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Thank you. I cannot say what it means to me to have your blessing."

"Well, I know that you haven't felt the same since Naruto and I married, and Naruto hated that you had any reason to feel that he loved you less than me."

"Really? I never meant to-"

"Tenten-chan, you don't have to explain yourself to me. If our situation had been reversed, I am sure that I would feel much the same. I just hope that everything can stay the way that it has been."

Leaning forward, Tenten and Hinata embraced. Releasing each other a moment later they exchanged beatific smiles, before linking arms passing a smirking Anko, went to celebrate.


	20. One Day and the Final Exam

Chapter Twenty: One Day and the Final Exam

**One Day until the Final Exam**

Kamizuki Izumo and Hagane Kotetsu, the two career chunin had once again drawn guard duty at one of the gates and were not looking forward to a day filled with checking papers and making sure that everyone entering was actually allowed to be there. The daimyos entourages alone usually took close to an hour to clear, and while most of them had already arrived, the leaders of the Five Elemental Countries, as usual, only arrived at the last minute. Of course there was the requisite bowing and scraping and tugging of forelocks that any noble expected of someone not nobly born, but with daimyos, it was worse than was usual.

So that is why they grinned at the sight of an elderly man accompanied by a small boy wrapped in a black trench coat. Naruto's squinty eyed grin only emphasized Jiraiya's dour grimace all the more. "Good afternoon Jiraiya-sama. How was your trip?" Izumo asked.

"Would have been better without a blond brat tagging along."

"Aw, you're just sore that I am more awesome than you. Don't worry, if you follow my teachings and do as I say, you might one day approach my coolness."

Signing the log, Jiraiya handed the chunin his pen back and grunted in response, walking away from the gates, grumbling. Reaching into a voluminous pocket in his coat, Naruto withdrew a blue balloon, blew it up and absently began playing with it. Glancing down at his apprentice, Jiraiya rolled his eyes and spoke. "Alright brat. The Final Exams start tomorrow, so have the rest of the day off. Go see your women, have a hot meal, sleep in a warm bed, get laid, whatever you want. Just whatever you do, get your ass to the stadium tomorrow, on time. If you get disqualified for a no-show, you will be in deep shit, got me?"

"Hai Ero-sennin. Take the rest of the day off, but be at the stadium on time."

"Good. Now get outta my sight. I have had enough of your ugly mug to last me."

Entirely unfazed by Jiraiya's rather brusque manner, Naruto formed a hundred clones and took to the roofs.

Jiraiya followed the departing Naruto's with his eyes, and when the last one had disappeared, he broke out in a gleeful grin. "Wait until I tell Sensei how he mastered the Rasengan in a month."

OoOoO

While his clones spread out to look for Tenten, the real Naruto went directly to the Hyuuga compound. Yun and Jun, the two Hyuuga gate guards greeted him respectfully as he passed through the gate. "Good morning Yun-san, Jun-san."

"Good morning Naruto-sama," the pair chorused.

"Do either of you know what is up with all the high-ranked ninja around? I caught sight of at least three ANBU on my way here, and there seem to be more chunin and jounin patrolling on the walls and roofs than usual."

Yun and Jun exchanged a glance before answering. "Forgive us Naruto-sama, but you don't know?"

"Know what? Has something happened to affect the Chunin Exam tomorrow?"

"No, the Final Exam is going to be administered as planned, but a Sound genin that had not passed to the third round and a tokubetsu jounin by the name of Gekko Hayate were both found dead on the rooftops in the last week."

"Do we know who killed them?"

"Forgive me Naruto-sama, but if their murderers are known, we have not heard."

Waving a hand, Naruto brushed it off. "It's okay. Maybe Hiashi will know something."

"Perhaps, Naruto-sama. If you wish to find him, he is probably in the dojo with Hinata-sama." At that, Naruto's ears perked up. Hearing that Hiashi was voluntarily spending time with his eldest daughter was surprising to say the least.

"Really? Hiashi spending time with Hinata-chan? Know why?"

Yun shook his head. "I do not know, Naruto-sama. Perhaps Hiashi-sama or Hinata-sama would be willing to tell you."

"Okay. Well, thanks anyways." Bowing again, the two bid him farewell. Removing his shoes as he entered the sprawling complex, he silently padded to the dojo used by Hiashi and his two daughters. Carefully sliding the rice paper door open, he found a scene that took him off guard. Hiashi and Hinata were sparring, but unlike other times he had watched them spar, there was none of the overly aggressive do-or-die attitude in Hiashi's bearing. Quite the contrary, Hiashi actually seemed to be trying to teach Hinata, rather beat the forms into her.

Rather than interrupt, Naruto shut the door quietly behind him and seated himself on a bench. Watching his wife and father-in-law move through the forms of whatever technique that Hinata was learning, he sat back and admired the graceful movements of the Jyuuken. From a purely aesthetic point of view, Jyuuken was simultaneously the most graceful and peaceful looking martial art he had ever seen. On the other hand he knew from painful first-hand experience how utterly ruthless it was. His taijutsu didn't come close to the restrained violence that was Jyuuken.

Once the pair finally wound down, Naruto stood up and wrapped Hinata in his arms and gave her a peck on her lips, as Hiashi was right behind her. "How are you doing Hinata-chan?" he whispered in her ear.

"I'm fine. But we need to talk."

Naruto nodded and released Hinata, turning to Hiashi. "Hello Hiashi-san," he greeted neutrally.

"Good afternoon Naruto-san," Hiashi replied, equally neutral. "I assume you have returned for the Final Chunin Exam?"

"Yeah, I just got in a little bit ago. On my way in, I noticed a marked increase in the presence of ANBU and upper-level shinobi. I spoke to Yun and Jun on the way in and they said that a Sound genin and the Preliminary Exam proctor had been killed recently. Any idea who killed them?"

"We think that the Kazekage's son, Sabaku no Gaara killed the Sound genin, as there was some chakra-reactive sand found in his corpse. However, Gekko-san seems to have been killed by a bladed weapon, presumably a katana or something similar. Given the Oto ninja that your team encountered last year, Hokage-sama has moved us to war footing, in case this is the opening move of an attack or invasion."

"Does he really think we are about to be attacked?"

"I do not know. But it is better to be prepared in any case."

"True. The worst that happens is that he is wrong and nothing happens. Anyways, are you done with Hinata-chan?"

"I suppose."

"Then we will take our leave now Hiashi-san." Without waiting for a nod, Naruto put an arm around Hinata's shoulders and led her to the door, passing her a towel to mop her sweat with. As he slid the door to the dojo open again, he was arrested by Hiashi's voice.

"One last thing, Naruto-kun. You fight Neji tomorrow in the Final Exam. I will remind you that you are a member of the Main House of the Hyuuga. Should you lose to a Branch member, however talented, I shall view it with the greatest displeasure."

"Don't worry. What do you think I have been training for the last month for?"

OoOoO

The moment the door to their apartment was shut, Hinata turned around and hugged Naruto hard. Naruto smirked. "Miss me much?"

Easing her grip, Hinata frowned. "What happened to 'I'll send a couple of clones back every day?' I got one visit from you the entire month."

Scratching the back of his head, Naruto laughed nervously. "Ah, well, I meant to, but I was pretty busy the entire time."

Pouting cutely, Hinata batted her eyelashes. "Too busy to come see your lonely and neglected wife at home for just a few minutes?"

"Ah..." However his hesitant smile quickly turned into a pained wince. "Won't happen again Hinata-chan."

Tapping a tenketsu low on his back, Hinata smiled softly and replied, "make sure it doesn't Naruto-kun."

Scowling as Hinata turned away he rubbed his back surreptitiously. "You and Tenten are hanging around my mother far too much. That was the kind of thing she would do to me."

"Hm... I wouldn't know."

"Oh really?" Naruto growled back. Stalking forward, he moved to grab Hinata from behind, but as he reached for her arms Hinata spun back to him and did some twisty thing with his arms and the next thing he knew she was sitting on his chest.

"And what did you think you were going to do? You know that you were not the only one who has been training for the last month." Hinata had her arms tangled with his so that if he tried to move them he would probably dislocate something. And as suddenly as she had pinned him she let him go. Grabbing the front of his coat, she laid down and kissed him.

When she disengaged Naruto asked, "okay, so all better now?"

"Yeah."

The silence stretched for a few seconds before Naruto spoke again. "So... you gonna let me up?"

Sighing theatrically, she acquiesced. Once they were on their feet again Naruto asked "so what was with you and Hiashi in the dojo together? He actually seemed to be teaching you rather than trying to beat you senseless like you usually tell me he does."

"Apparently he is of the opinion that even though I lost to Neji in the Preliminaries, my attitude has changed enough for me to be worthy of his tutelage once again. Not in those exact words, but that was the intent."

"Well, that is good I suppose. As long as he is actually teaching you."

"I assure you he is. Surprisingly."

"Heh. I won't argue with you there. So anything else exciting happen in my absence?"

"Father sealed Hanabi-chan."

Naruto grimaced. While he didn't particularly like his sister-in-law, Hinata adored her. And judging from the pained expression that Hinata had on her face and the way her hands were balled up into fists, he doubted this was new news. Before Naruto had the chance to say anything, Hinata continued. "Naruto-kun, please tell me you have made progress on creating a counter-seal for the Caged Bird Seal."

"Hinata-chan, I wish I could say that I had. I really haven't had much opportunity in the last month at all. And I don't have to remind you that this is probably the second-most complex seal I have ever seen. Added to the fact that I can't get Ero-sennin for the Hokage to help at all, Hinata-chan, this is something that could take me years to develop. I am pretty good with seals nowadays, but I am nowhere near the level of Ero-sennin or my father."

Embracing Hinata's slumped form, he kissed her on the top of the head and whispered in her ear. "It could take years, but I will never stop working on it. I promise you, I _will _find a way to break the seal."

"Thank you Naruto-kun. I was hoping you had made a breakthrough, but I know you will do what you can."

"Anything else you want to tell me?"

"Hm... No. I think that about covers everything."

"Great, 'coz I am hungry. Do you know how bad a cook Ero-sennin is? That man can burn water, I swear."

"Let me guess, you want to go to Ichiraku's?"

"Right in one. You know me so well."

"It doesn't take being married to you to know that you would want Ichiraku as soon as you came back. Give me ten minutes. Let me get a shower and into some clean clothes first."

"Okay. I can start unpacking while I wait."

**Fifteen minutes later...**

By the time Hinata came out of her room, Naruto was practically vibrating in place. Checking his watch, he took an accusatory tone to Hinata. "That was fifteen minutes Hinata-chan. You said you would be out in ten minutes."

"Well, it is a woman's prerogative to take a little extra time to get herself ready to go out."

"If you say so."

"I do," Hinata replied authoritatively.

"Aaaaaanyway, ready to go now? Good. I am starving." Hinata repressed a giggle as Naruto snatched her hand and hauled her behind him as he raced to Ichiraku. However, things were not as they should have been.

"C'mon Teuchi-ossan, I'm telling you, I am the real Naruto."

"Don't listen to that thieving scumbag. He will tell you anything to get you to do as he wants. Now, I can assure you that I am the real Naruto."

"Those two are idiots. Anyone can tell right off the bat that I am the original."

"Naruto-kun, that sounds like you..." Looking over at the blond, Hinata could tell that he had no more idea what was going on than she did. Setting his features into a fierce scowl, Naruto charged into the ramen bar to find out what was going on.

"Everybody, shut the hell up and tell me...." But his angry tirade was cut short as he pushed past the privacy curtain and found out just what was going on. Slapping his face, Naruto sighed. "Okay, I have seen some stupid shit before, but this has to take the cake."

Standing at the bar were three clones of Naruto, each one trying to convince the proprietor that he was the real Naruto and therefor should sell him a bowl of ramen. Lifting his face from his hand, Naruto simply pointed out to the street. Hanging their heads, the three clones trudged out of the bar. Seating himself at one of the stools, he put his head in his arms. "The usual, I take it?" Teuchi asked. Nodding without lifting his head, Naruto didn't say anything.

"A vegetable ramen please," Hinata said as she sat next to Naruto. Lifting his head from his arms as their food arrived, Naruto took a mouthful of noodles. Once he had swallowed, he asked, "man, I can't even get my own clones to listen to me, what am I supposed to do?" to no one in particular.

"Well, Naruto-kun, it would seem to me, as they are essentially you, the fact that they headed right to Teuchi's says more about yourself than anything."

Staring at Hinata balefully, he replied, "thanks Doctor Hinata-san. Anymore insights you care to offer?"

Grinning widely, she shook her head. "Nope, at least not right now. Although it does raise questions about your priorities when you would rather go for ramen than look for Tenten. And I presume they were supposed to be looking for her."

"Hey, what do you mean me? They were clones!"

"Yes, but they were shadow clones, and as you have pointed out before, there is no meaningful difference between you and a shadow clone. A shadow clone can't do anything that you would not do."

"Geez, when did you get all intellectual on me?"

"I had a whole month away from you, honey. I was bound to pick something up without you blocking it all."

Spluttering, Naruto nearly choked on his food. "Did you just call me stupid?"

"Not at all Naruto-kun."

Naruto opened his mouth to reply when his eyes unfocused for a split second, absorbing memories of a dispelled clone.

"How the hell..." he wondered faintly, before Tenten could be heard faintly yelling his name. "Crap. I swear, women are telepathic."

Naruto hurried to finish his bowl of ramen before Tenten arrived and interrupted. He barely managed to slurp the last of the broth up before a pissed-off Tenten stomped into the stand. Swiveling around, Naruto thrust both his hands to Tenten, palms out. As Tenten opened her mouth to start an obviously angry tirade, Naruto preempted her. "Before you say anything, Hinata has already chewed me out for not coming to visit often enough. My only excuse was that I was wrapped up in my training with Jiraiya and I thought that you would prefer to focus on your own training."

Her angry diatribe cut off before she could begin, Tenten nodded in sullen acquiescence. "Alright I guess, since you seem to have a better reason than 'I forgot,' I suppose that I can accept that." Just as Naruto let out a relieved sigh, Tenten continued. "But do not think you are off the hook," which made Naruto just hang his head. "I hope that Jiraiya-sama taught you some awesome jutsus, because Anko gave me some seriously kick ass ones. Next time we fight, you better be prepared or I will kick your ass from here to kingdom come." Smirking confidently, Tenten had one hand curled into a fist, arm pumped, the other hand resting on her hip.

Grinning himself, Naruto asked, "do you know how sexy you are right now? Because I am having trouble restraining myself from throwing you over my shoulder and taking you home to ravish you into unconsciousness."

"Ravish me into unconsciousness, will you? Only if you can catch me first!" And with that, Tenten took off down the road, quickly followed by Naruto, but not before he thoughtfully left a shadow clone behind for Hinata. Hinata went back to her food as soon as Naruto and Tenten were out of sight. One of the first things she and Tenten had discussed after their agreement regarding Naruto was whether there was any difference between the real Naruto and a clone. It was quickly decided that there was not, at least in any significant manner. After all, a shadow clone possessed all of Naruto's memories, and passed them on to the original after it was dispelled, so it might as well have been the original in the clone's place. And as far as they could tell, Naruto didn't seem to spend more time with either woman as the original than as a clone.

When Hinata finished her meal, she paid for the food, as any money the clone used would vanish along with the clone.

OoOoO

**Day of the Chunin Final Exam**

Hinata woke on the morning of the Final Exam tense. Looking out the window, a more perfect day could not be wished for. The sky held a handful of clouds, enough to provide the occasional patch of shade and keep the temperature down to semi-bearable levels. But weather was not the source of her tension. In just a couple of hours, Naruto would be facing off against Neji. She believed in her husband, but Neji was a prodigy, the quality of which had not been seen in two generations. He quite possibly was the best fighter that the Branch Hyuuga had ever produced in recent history, easily outstripping Hanabi, another Hyuuga prodigy, and able to give her father a run for his money.

Breakfast passed in silence, neither Hinata or Naruto speaking. When Naruto finally finished his meal, he excused himself and slid the door open. "Naruto-kun," Hinata blurted, halting him in the doorway, "fight well this day."

Looking back over his shoulder, he smirked. "Don't worry, Hinata-chan. I always do." Closing the door behind him, Hinata ducked her gaze to the table, worried about Naruto, no matter what he said. Finally sighing, she shook her head to clear them of such morose thoughts and focused on making the time until the start of the Exam pass.

OoOoO

Nine of the ten contestants stood in the middle of the arena as the stadium gradually filled with the spectators. Naruto caught his mother's and Hinata's attention and gave them a confident nod and wink, before going back to perusing the crowd.

The sun rose steadily higher into the sky, quickly approaching the time for the main event to begin. As usual, Sasuke waited until the last minute to shunshin down into the arena, making sure that everyone made note of his arrival.

As soon as he did, the proctor looked around, double checking that everyone was present and accounted for before raising the microphone to his lips and spoke.

"Welcome one and all to the Konohagakure Chunin Selection Exam. We will now start the Final Exam, a one-on-one, single elimination battle between the ten participants who have made it through the preliminary fights. Please stay until the end and enjoy the fights."

Turning off the microphone, Genma turned to face the ten fighters. "Before we get started here, let me tell you that although the terrain is different, the rules are exactly the same from the preliminaries. That means forfeit if you have to, and do not continue fighting after I have declared a match over. Anyone who breaks my rules will be disqualified. Any questions? No, then everyone but Hyuuga Neji and Hyuuga Naruto vacate the arena.

Facing off, Neji smirked. "You look like you have something to say Naruto-sama."

Naruto's mouth was set into a thin-lipped frown, brows lowered and eyes cold. "Everything I have to say to you has already been said."

Neji just snorted. Once everyone else had cleared the arena, Genma stepped back and dropped his hand, signaling the start of the match. Naruto quickly formed three dozen clones, completely surrounding Neji. Before Naruto had the chance to take the offensive, Neji leaped forward. Hand darting every which way, he quickly dispatched a full dozen clones before Naruto had time to react. With the original hanging back, the remaining Narutos closed the gaps in their ranks, trying to strike Neji with only taijutsu. Leaping and bounding like a human jackrabbit, Neji effortlessly evaded every attack the clones made.

Finally touching down with one foot, Neji smoothly set himself to receive another attack, the smoke from dead shadow clones rapidly dispersing. "That had better not be the extent of your skill, Naruto-sama. If it is, it is small wonder you were matched up with Hinata-sama." Arms folded, and with a dour expression on his face, Naruto remained silent. He had never expected his shadow clone assault to work, merely using them to sound out Neji's form. He didn't want to defeat Neji with ninjutsu, wanting to beat him at taijutsu, his own specialty. Plus the fact that most of his techniques couldn't be scaled down to a nonlethal level helped. Now that he had a good idea what he was capable of, Naruto finally drew his heavy, short blade fron the scabbard hanging from the baldric, causing a murmur among the spectators when his clothes morphed to the Garment of Dead Souls. Neji blinked a few times when Naruto flashed him with the silver blade, but showed no signs of being captured by his illusion. Nodding, as if that was completely expected, Naruto charged.

Pivoting out-of-the-way of a diagonal, right to left slash, Neji spun around to attack Naruto's back. However, Naruto had turned his slash into a pivot also, and it was only to his bloodline eyes that Neji was able to see the rising thrust that would have speared him in the stomach otherwise, stopping his spin before he placed himself in the attack's way. Neji flipped over the follow up slash, finally able to land a single Jyuuken strike on Naruto's tricep before having to backflip before he lost his head to another slash. As it was, he still took a shallow cut across the stomach.

That little blade was really dangerous. It was short enough to be highly maneuverable, but heavy enough that Neji didn't doubt that he would be able to eviscerate him easily, or lop off a hand.

Putting one hand to the wound to make sure it was not serious, he nodded to Naruto, giving him the point. "You said you want to become the Hokage? Well, with that level of attack, you will never become chunin, let alone Hokage. You should know well that I have the perfect vision, able to see in all directions. Even with as hard as you work, you cannot do anything that was not already decided at your birth. Think about it. There have only been four shinobi chosen to be Hokage. If you look closely enough, you will see that those that became Hokage were born into that role. People live within their own unchanging flow, and death is the only fate that everyone shares. We are but grist for the mill that is fate. The is nothing that can protect a person from that wheel."

"I don't believe that at all. Whatever happens, I will protect those that I love from the wheel, and if I can't, I will use this sword here to shatter it, to shatter fate itself." Drawing his right arm back, he hurled Kitsune with his whole body at Neji. Forced to turn to dodge the impromptu projectile, he nearly caused Naruto to stumble as he caught Kitsune by the hilt as it flew by. Naruto fell to his knees, sliding under Neji's sidearm cut that would have otherwise beheaded him. Flipping over, Naruto scrambled to his feet, trying to get inside Neji's guard. He raised both arms and parried a thrust from Neji to the right, glad that he had worn his bracers under his clothes.

Ducking under Neji's reverse cut, Naruto tried to nail Neji on the point of his chin, but Neji dodged by leaning back. Using his unoccupied hand to strike Naruto in the stomach with a chakra-sheathed palm, the blond boy was knocked clear off his feet. Landing face down, he rolled to the side, watching as Kitsune plunged into the ground not an inch from his nose. Rolling he saw the silver blade narrowly miss him three more times before he was able to roll out of range. Slamming a palm into the ground as he started to roll face down, he launched himself twirling into the air and landed on his feet. Neji was standing ten feet away standing at ease, absently tapping the point of Kitsune against the ground.

"You know, Naruto-sama, if I didn't know better, I would be thinking that you are toying with me. From everything I have heard about you and your team, I really was expecting more."

"Shut up you sonovabitch. It is that 'holier than thou' attitude that pisses me off the most. Just because you are stronger than someone else does not mean that you can do whatever the hell you want."

"Well, as it now stands, I am the stronger one here, so yes, I can, as you so eloquently put it, do whatever the hell I want. Might makes right, survival of the fittest, plain and simple. The only rights you have are the ones that you can defend. All men are not created equal. Equality is a concept that those who were born with an inferior fate try to use to lower those greater than they to their level."

"Well, let me show you my equalizer then," Naruto snarled. Naruto seemed to flicker once or twice, then he was nose-to-nose with him. Before he hand the time to blink, He felt his nose crunch, and he was tumbling across the ground. Naruto then calmly walked over to where Kitsune had clattered to the ground a few feet away.

Neji slowly pushed himself to his feet and wiped his face with the back of his hand as Naruto approached again. Snapping his sleeves, Neji spread his feet apart. When Naruto came within range he initiated his attack.

"You are in the range of my divination! Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!" Naruto had barely had the chance to blink before Neji was on him again, fingers flickering lances of pain. It seemed to Naruto that it took Neji an hour to land all sixty four pinpoint jabs, but in reality it wasn't more than a handful of seconds. As it was, Naruto was blasted from his feet again, hunched over on all fours.

Resettling into a relaxed stance, Neji called out to the proctor. "Shiranui-san, Naruto-sama has been defeated. Turning to walk away, his attention was pulled back. Grunting, Naruto was trying to push himself to his feet. "Naruto-sama, give up now. I have sealed over a fifth of your tenketsu, rendering you incapable of combat. If you keep struggling, you could do yourself a permanent injury."

The contorted expression of anger disfiguring his face almost made Neji take a step back. "I promised Hinata-chan that I would beat you. And I do _not _back down from my promises." As he said this, Naruto did manage to stand up, although with the way he was swaying, it was clear that his sense of balance was tenuous at best. Lifting a single fist, the other hand using Kitsune to support himself, Naruto raised is middle finger to Neji. Grinning maniacally, he managed to utter a hoarse laugh as Neji turned back to him.

"Fine, if that is how you choose to be Naruto-sama, I will show you that you lost before you ever set foot inside this arena." Curling his hand into a fist, Neji struck out with a simple punch, forgoing the acrobatics of Jyuuken for a purely physical strike. "You are done, Naruto-sama if you cannot even keep your feet after a single punch." Turning away a second time, he threw one last comment over his shoulder. "It would seem that you have proven yourself a liar and unfit to bear the Hyuuga name. Don't worry though. I am sure that Hiashi-sama can find a more suitable husband for Hinata-sama so that you can go rut with that Higurashi whore without bringing shame to the Hyuuga name."

As he said that, an unnatural silence fell over the stadium, while the spectators couldn't hear what Neji said, they understood it to be something serious, as the moment he finished speaking, a nearly physically tangible wave of malicious chakra engulfed everyone there. Until that moment, Naruto's anger had been cold, carefully controlled and calculating. Neji's words however had fanned the seed of rage on the pit of his stomach into an incandescent bonfire consuming every thought.

Neji had raised his arms in an instinctual motion to protect himself from the wave of chakra, as if it were a gust of wind. He was halted where he stood, eyes widening as Naruto became something other than human. Paralyzed by the chakra rolling over him in waves, he watched as Naruto regained his feet. When Naruto look up, his eyes were a bloody red, pupils stretched into slits. His shit-eating snarl revealed inhuman canines and whisker scratches deepened into deep scars. He watched in shock as Naruto's nails lengthened to resemble claws.

The members of Team Seven, remembering the evil chakra that had awoken them on the mission to Wave all those months ago were as shocked to find Naruto to be the source of that horrifying chakra. The other genin were equally as stunned to find Naruto, the kid that had passed the genin exam by the skin of his teeth channeling such... _power_.

When he stared into Naruto's cat-like eyes, he nearly stumbled from the bloodlust contained therein. Immobilized as he was by Naruto's killing intent_, _he was wholly unable to prevent Naruto from lashing out with his unnaturally lengthened nails, digging four bloody trenches across his face, coming within millimeters of taking his eyes. The abrupt pain was enough to break him from his paralysis, blocking a follow-up strike with Naruto's other hand. And for the first time in the fight, Neji was forced onto the defensive. He was able to prevent Naruto from landing another attack, but had to retreat from the weight of his attacks. Blocking a kick with his shin, Neji ducked another claw hand slash and lashed out with a double handed Jyuuken palm thrust.

Knocked cleanly off his feet, Neji was finally able to gain some breathing room. Unfortunately, Naruto discarded his decision to defeat Neji by himself and created a hundred clones. Before he had taunted Naruto to the breaking point, Neji would have been confident of his ability to deal with a hundred sword-wielding Narutos, but not so now. This new Naruto fought ruthlessly, completely without regard to himself at all and striking to kill. Also, the red chakra sheath that he wore made his faster and more resilient to his Jyuuken, in addition to burning him when he came in contact with it. So, Neji had no choice but to reveal his trump card. Neji let the Narutos close to just beyond melee range, as he required a second to spin up, before unleashing the ultimate Jyuuken technique, Hakkesho: Kaiten. Normally, the Hakkesho: Kaiten repelled any object it came into contact with while leaving the user unaffected, but he was blasted back when his chakra impacted Naruto's red chakra shroud.

Climbing out of the trench he carved, he was barely able to fend off a second assault of feral Naruto clones, that if anything, seemed even more enraged, managing to keep his feet this time. He noted the dip in his chakra reserves, as the Hakkesho: Kaiten was not chakra-inexpensive. Dashing through the crowd of red-eyed, red-cloaked Narutos, killing those within reach, he was quickly bogged down. As fast as he was, Naruto was beginning to wear him down through sheer numbers. As the saying went, quantity has a quality all of its own.

Using a second Hakkesho: Kaiten to block a Wind Release: Pressure Bullet bought him a small amount of breathing room. He peered up when the clones did not resume the attack though. The crowd of Narutos had parted to reveal what was presumably the real one.

"You know Neji, despite how you like to prattle on about the immutability of fate, I know you are the one who is really trying to escape." Neji was barely able to understand what Naruto was saying, his voice was pitched so low.

Roaring at that top of his lungs, the original sprinted towards him. Neji slid his feet apart in preparation to receive his beserker charge, but was left blinking for a moment when a pair of Naruto clones launched the original high into the air so fast that it appeared that Naruto had stepped on a mine. Peaking at a height that would prevent most people from seeing what he was doing, Neji was nonetheless able to see Naruto put his hands together, one behind the other. As Naruto fell belly-down, arms and legs trailing behind, even the civilians were soon able to see what appeared to be a ball of pure chakra growing in his palm, colored a ugly, bruised purple. Going into the first steps of the Hakkesho: Kaiten, Neji watched as the swirling fist-sized ball grow to the size of a soccer ball.

A huge plume of dust erupted when the two collided accompanied by a high pitched grinding, obscuring the two fighters for almost thirty seconds. As the dust finally thinned out enough for everyone to see, Naruto was standing over a prone Neji. The sleeves of his clothes hand been shredded and a series of angry red spiraling chakra burns covered his arms fingertips to shoulders.

Even as the dust was still rising, Naruto was on Neji again. Leaping onto him, Naruto began pounding away at Neji with bare knuckles, screaming incoherently as he beat Neji's face to hell. Neji tried to call to the proctor to admit defeat, he was forced to swallow his own shattered teeth as Naruto drove a straight punch right between his lips.

Naruto lashed out with a backhand swipe when he felt someone try to pull him off Neji as the dust cleared. Letting out a strangled "urk," Naruto's vision was filled with stars for a few seconds as the back off his head slammed into the hard packed earth with tooth-rattling force. When his vision cleared, he saw that Genma had finally pulled him off Neji. Letting the boy up when he saw that he had mastered himself again, Genma declared him the winner.

Looking down to the barely conscious Neji, Naruto said, "if it hadn't been for my mom teaching me the shadow clone, I probably would have failed the graduation exam, because the last test was always my worst technique, the Clone Technique. Stop whining about fate, and how it can't be changed, since you aren't a loser like me." Neji tried to reply, but all that came out was a wet gurgle.

The crowd was silent, absorbing the multiple shocks of having such an upset victory and witnessing the defeat of the technique touted, and until just then, to be a perfect defense and the utter brutality and viciousness of Neji's defeat. It had been a long time since anyone had seen such a bloody match. Even with Finals that had resulted in deaths, that level of vengeful wrath was almost unheard of.

Naruto bowed a few times, giving what might be able to be construed as a smile on a very, very good day all the way back to the fighters box to ringing silence. His arms burned abominably, but the high of coming out on top of such a tough fight allowed him to push the pain off to the side to deal with later.

He didn't even see the looks that said that he had gone from zero to 'do not fuck with, ever' on nearly everyone's badass meter.

Up in the Kage's Box, Sarutobi looked on in stunned disbelief as Naruto quite literally beat Neji within a inch of his life. Shaking himself out of his reverie, he turned to look at his Sand opposite. "That was some match, was it not, Hokage-sama?"

"Yes, it definitely was."

"It is not often that we get to witness such mindless anger. Tell me, do you know what the Hyuuga child did to offend his opponent?"

"I cannot say I do. While I do see the boy on occasion, I have not seen him in a while."

"Hmmm. Ah well. I wonder if the next match shall prove to be as entertaining as the last one was?" Sarutobi gave the Kazekage a sharp look, but did not comment on it.

In the fighters box, Naruto sat down against the back wall, using a towel to wipe the blood dripping from his fists and what had sprayed onto his face, both his and Neji's. Laying his hands palms up on the floor, he closed his eyes. He ignored the whispering that had ceased the instant he passed through the portal and the slight flinch even Tenten had been unable to suppress as he entered the box. He had not questioned when the rage had crept into his thoughts, but now that he was a little more clearheaded, it seemed obvious that the Kyuubi had been influencing him. When he entered the arena, he had intended to give Neji the beating of his life, but not to beat him to death with his fists. The level of influence that the Kyuubi had been able to exert over him was terrifying, and he did not mind admitting it.

It had been a long time since he had had such a taxing battle, the injuries Neji inflicted from his Sixty-Four Palms technique and the chakra burns from matching his supercharged Rasengan against the Hakkesho: Kaiten starting to heal slightly and the mental fatigue of the Kyuubi-induced rage finally setting in. It was unlikely that he would recover completely before his next match, but he hoped that he could recover enough to be able to use his arms. Right now, even thinking of trying to form hand seals had him wincing.

He cracked an eye when a shadow fell over him and smiled slightly. "Hey Tenten-chan."

"You okay?" Tenten asked hesitantly, the beserker rage that had wielded Naruto still bloody fresh, quirking an eyebrow at the angry red burns running up his arms.

"I've been worse."

"You have also been a hell of a lot better."

"I won't deny that. Remind me to never try beating the Hakkesho: Kaiten with a Rasengan ever again."

"At least you were able to leave under your own power. I do not think that Neji could even feel it when he was carted off. I doubt his face will ever look the same."

"He is lucky to be feeling anything below the neck at all."

"And I know that Hinata will appreciate it." Giving him a peck on the lips, she stood and moved back to the rail to watch the next match.

OoOoO

Somewhat predictably, Sasuke had probably been hiding somewhere in the stands before teleporting down to the arena via a leaf body flicker. Giving the fighters a few words, Genma dropped his hand and jumped back so as not to interfere in the fight.

Kakashi, who had trained Sasuke specifically for this fight, had focused heavily on increasing Sasuke's reaction time and speed, and while he was nowhere near Lee's level, was significantly faster than he had been the last time Tenten had seen him. As Gai had once put it so eloquently, the Sharingan's sole weakness was that while the user could see what his opponent was going to do, that did not mean that he could react fast enough to act on his precognition.

Lee dominated most of the match, quickly abandoning his weights when Sasuke proved that he could easily keep up with the handicapped Lee. Lee kept a constant barrage of bruising punches and kicks simply did not provide a chance for Sasuke to hit back. However, Sasuke provided a surprisingly effective defense, able to block, dodge or parry every single punch and kick Lee threw.

Given who he was, Sasuke was more predisposed toward ninjutsu than taijutsu, and Lee kept Sasuke's hands occupied to prevent Sasuke from turning the battle into a contest of ninjutsu, which Lee would lose badly, for obvious reasons.

It wasn't until Lee opened the First Gate, the Gate of Opening, that Lee gained the upper hand for sure. Circling Sasuke so quickly that he appeared to have performed the Clone Technique, Lee charged Sasuke from behind, stunning him with more punches than Sasuke could count so quickly. Lee finished with a leg sweep and a double-footed kick that rocketed Sasuke skyward. Following for the second part of the Shadow of the Dancing Leaf, Lee immobilized Sasuke by utilizing the bandages wrapped around his fists and forearms. Hugging Sasuke close, Lee increased the force behind his face-first piledriver by spinning them both sickeningly fast.

Disengaging his bandages, Lee was the first to emerge from the crater created by his Front Lotus, stumbling in a nearly drunken fashion. Taking a deep breath, he put on a huge smile and thrust one hand into the air, forming a vee with two fingers. His victory was short lived though when Sasuke released his Cursed Seal. Lee didn't spend long wondering how Sasuke had emerged from a move that was supposed to completely disable his opponent because such things were to be expected. If one could not adapt to an evolving situation, there were two options, retire or die. Despite his total lack of ability regarding ninjutsu and genjutsu, if there was one thing that Lee could do, it was think on his feet. But no matter how he tried, what few blows he was able to land were shrugged off. Fatigued from the use of the Front Lotus, Lee was helpless as he gradually grew slower, unable to gain enough space to activate the other four gates.

Sasuke for his part, was doing his utmost to make sure that Lee did not have the opportunity to pull that turnip-planting maneuver again. Despite the new strength that the Cursed Seal afforded him, it did not give him enough endurance to take another Front Lotus. In the end, it turned out that his fears were unwarranted. Without being able to rejuvenate himself via the Second Gate, the Gate of Healing, Lee grew slower and weaker. While extremely powerful, the Front Lotus seemed to be a double-edged sword, harming the user almost as much as the victim. And worst of all, he hadn't been able to copy it with his Sharingan!

Letting the Cursed Seal recede as he stood over a knocked-out Lee, Sasuke locked his knees as the burst of vitality and power left him. Then again, what was said about the Front Lotus was almost as equally applicable to the Cursed Seal.

Ignoring the cheers of the crowd, Sasuke slowly passed the medics who were trotting across the pockmarked arena to cart Lee off to the infirmary.

OoOoO

Shikamaru didn't sigh when his name was called down to the arena, but it was close. In fact he weighed the pros and cons of simply admitting defeat right then and there, given the total lack of information he had on his opponent. Then again, if he did forfeit before ever throwing a punch, he would undoubtedly get an earful from his mother. And one of his goals was to become a chunin at some point. The sooner he was promoted the sooner he could retire.

Figuring that he could always forfeit partway through the fight if it really did become troublesome, he followed the Mist kunoichi he was to fight.

Despite his decision to half-ass the fight and then give up, he couldn't help himself but fight with his all after a small initial demonstration of Sora's prowess with Water Release ninjutsu. Summoning a persistent bank of thick enough to obscure vision beyond arm range and large enough to cover a significant portion of the arena in a day that was probably nearing the triple-digits was one hell of an impressive accomplishment.

While most fighters would find a technique that rendered all of his clan techniques all but useless frustrating, Shikamaru merely grinned. It had been a long time since he hand encountered a fighter that was able to shut him down so effectively, since his only true ninjutsu was the Shadow Imitation Technique. Usually he would rely on his teammates to disable his opponent once he had captured them, but that was not a viable strategy now.

While he may not look it, Shikamaru was quite accomplished at fighting hand to hand, and he found it quite easy to predict his opponents attacks from sound and the swirls of the fog. Dodging a Water Dragon Projectile while wondering absently if Sora had some sort of water-generating bloodline as it simply should not be possible to draw enough water out of the air for that technique without thinning her Hidden Mist Technique, yet she did. And she managed to follow her Water Dragon Projectile with a series of Water Bullets. Drawing a kunai, he met steel with steel when Sora fell on him, short-bladed kodachi first.

Exchanging a flurry of blows, Shikamaru was driven back by the weight of her assault, collecting a cut that nicked his cheekbone and a mouse on his temple from a strike from her pommel. Clearly possessing superior skill with edged weapons, Sora pressed her advantage as well as she was able.

Shikamaru parried a thrust aimed at his stomach and stepped in close where she could not bring her kodachi to bear, placing the point of his kunai just below her chin. "I don't have the opportunity to say this often, but I have genuinely enjoyed fighting you Kaiyou-san. Generally speaking, I find females to be nothing but sources of trouble for myself, but in this case, I would have to retract that statement. You have made this a victory that I will certainly remember."

Putting an expression of mock confusion on, she asked "you won? I would have thought that you would have realized that this is just a water clone?" Starting, Shikamaru drove his kunai into her jugular, only to be rewarded with an impromptu shower. Smiling in honest-to-God anticipation, he merely set himself for Sora's next attack.

OoOoO

Most of the audience groaned in irritation when Sora hid the fight from view with display of strength via her huge Hidden Mist Technique, the next twenty minutes were filled with quiet chatter as the spectators waited for something to watch aside from the slightly luminescent glow of the shifting fogbank and a series of loud twangs once.

Unfortunately for those hoping for an exciting fight, the 'fight' ended almost without notice. Abruptly, the fogbank started to dissipate, the chakra powering it having been cut off. After half a minute, those watching understood why. Sora sat on the ground in front of Shikamaru, bound with what appeared to be half a spool of ninja wire, gagged by what might have been a pair of womens underwear, but it was hard to tell behind all the wire. Nevertheless, Sora didn't seem to be too terribly perturbed by her situation, not even fighting overmuch when Shikamaru slung her over his shoulder and headed to the tunnel leading to the stairs that in turn lead to the fighters box.

OoOoO

Tenten's fight against Sakura was unexpectedly short. While Sakura had improved by leaps and bounds over the last month, was not expecting for Tenten's hand to dart to her belt and draw one of her pistols, holding it in both hands, peering down the barrel. "Once chance, Sakura-san. Forfeit now or I will put you down."

Now, Sakura had seen firearms used before, most notably in Wave, and knew that they were slightly more deadly as a kunai and shuriken, as there were few nin not capable of deflecting a thrown kunai or shuriken, but she had never heard of a nin capable of dodging bullets at point-blank range. Seeing as Tenten only was carrying two pistols (that she knew of, Tenten never having used the two smaller caliber pistols strapped to her ankle, let alone her derringers,) weighed her chances of getting a jutsu off before Tenten was able to squeeze off a shot.

"Alright, you have me. I don't have a chance of dodging a bullet at this range." Raising her hands in seeming surrender, Sakura rolled the dice. She stepped on the smoke bomb that she had palmed, simultaneously throwing herself into a forward roll, the crack of Tenten's pistol sounding loud in her ears, the pungent odor of the gunpowder clogging her nose, a sharp lance of pain exploding in her shoulder. Shoving the pain away for the moment, she followed her roll with a foot sweep, and Sakura could only wince as Tenten flipped over her, and out of the smoke, drawing her second pistol as she passed over her. But Tenten did not fire, not wanting to waste her shot.

Sakura's ninjutsu repertoire and taijutsu had not been the only things that had been improved upon since the mission to the Wave Country. As soon as Sakura was sure where Tenten was going to land, she formed a single tiger seal and directed her chakra into the earth below Tenten. But rather than looking worried when Tenten landed waist-deep in a small pit of mud, Tenten smirked.

"This level of earth manipulation will never work on me, you know. I guess you didn't know, but I am an earth type too. But that is irrelevant, as you are exactly where I want you. Bringing her pistol to bear, Tenten squeezed the trigger, the bullet dispelling the dust clone, much to Tenten's ire.

Growling in irritation, spun one hand around and slapped the surface of the mud, causing it to eject her and resolidify under her. "Okay, you know what Sakura-san, you are going down now. Do you have any idea how long it takes to make one of those cartridges?" Stabbing straight down into the ground with her katana, Tenten gave chase as Sakura fled via the Underground Fish Projection Technique. Reminding herself to thank Anko once again for teaching her the Sound of Earth Technique, Tenten hopped back when Sakura erupted from the soil, fist first.

While Kakashi had supervised Sasuke's training over the month between the Second and Final Exams, he had not left Sakura to her own devices. Calling in a favor from an old subordinate from his ANBU days, he had gotten Uzuki Yuugao to teach Sakura the basic tenants of her style of kenjutsu. Sakura was barely good enough to be classified as a novice, knowing enough to keep her from cutting her own foot off to otherwise seriously maiming herself, but had quick wrists and solid footing.

Drawing a scroll from a pouch, Sakura hurriedly bit her thumb and splashed the scroll she had opened in front of her with a few drops in sloppily, her wounded shoulder hampering her. Snatching the short blade from the air, Sakura slid her feet apart and brought her sheathed blade in a horizontal block. Tenten's longer katana bit through the thin wooden saya almost effortlessly before being halted by the sword itself. Exhaling lightly, Sakura lowered the tip of her blade, to the left and back, using the saya to drag Tenten's out of a possible guard position while simultaneously unsheathing her own blade. Sakura only knew a handful of attack routines, but she did know the follow-up move to that one and performed it almost before she knew what she was doing. Continuing the draw, Sakura's blade cut through Tenten so smoothly that Sakura might have been practicing against an imaginary opponent.

Both women froze, Sakura not quite believing what she had done, Tenten trying to figure what was causing the agonizing pain radiating from her guts. Tasting the blood that was rising in her throat, she coughed, dribbling blood down her chin. Slowly looking down, she blinked at the sight of where Sakura's sword had nearly eviscerated her. Looking up at Sakura again, she said one thing. "Damn..." Falling to her knees, and then to one side, she was fading out of consciousness as Genma pronounced Sakura the winner and Tenten was transported to the infirmary.

"I... I didn't mean to do that. I didn't want to hurt her like that."

Placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, Genma slid the discarded saya over Sakura's bloody sword and gave her a firm push to where the medics were waiting by the edge of the arena while whispering that everything was okay.

OoOoO

The remaining fighters gave Sakura a respectful nod as she dazedly entered the booth again, a thick gauze pad taped over her shoulder and arm in a sling. Team Nine was well known to specialize in kenjutsu and possessing considerable skill, so being able to defeat one of them at their own game was no easy feat.

Spying Naruto from the rail, Sakura quickly approached him, intent on telling him that she had not meant to stab Tenten like that.

"Sakura-chan, it is okay. I know that you didn't mean to hurt Tenten-chan like that, but that does not make your victory mean any less. You have to do whatever you have to win a fight, and that is exactly what you did. Nobody was expecting you to pull out a sword at the last second, least of all Tenten I would imagine." Clapping Sakura on the shoulder, Naruto smiled. "Congratulations Sakura-chan. I won't say I wish that Tenten-chan had won because I know you had to have worked your ass off over the last month to master that maneuver. You won today because you were the better fighter. That is it."

"Then... You aren't angry at me?"

"The better woman won today. I would be a bad friend to begrudge you your victory."

"Thank you Naruto-kun."

During their Academy years, Naruto had been the class clown, fighting hard with Shikamaru for the title of dead-last. He had been the ultimate prankster, and nobody had been safe from his machinations, except her. From an early age, he had taken a shine to her, and would occasionally ask her to hang out, and as they grew older, to go out on a date with him. She had rebuffed him at every opportunity, not really minding his constant attentions overmuch. While he could get annoying, she had always taken the chance to point out to Sasuke how her refusal to go out on a date with Naruto was proof of her devotion to him.

After graduation, she had not seen much of him, apart from the occasions when Team Nine had attacked them a few times, usually trying (and succeeding) to steal Kakashi's porn. She had seen him at Ichiraku's once or twice and every once in a while pass Team Nine on a D-rank, and never without Anko, Hinata or Tenten in his presence.

She had heard a few of the details surrounding his marriage to Hinata and a little less about how they got those strange swords. She had actually thanked Team Nine for beating her and her teammates so soundly in Wave because prior to their defeat, Kakashi had been a less than stellar instructor. However afterwards, he had seemed to take his duties far more seriously than he had before. He was still late to team meetings, but no more than by an hour and a half. Instead of telling the three of them to switch off sparring against one another, he actually taught them the strange amalgamation of various taijutsu styles he had assembled via his Sharingan.

Of course, Kiba and Sasuke had their clan styles, but she had nothing other than the basic Leaf taijutsu that every single Konoha ninja knew, and while it got the job done, she had never once been able to come anywhere near defeating her two teammates. She still wasn't anywhere near Sasuke's level, but she defeated Kiba with passing regularity.

Annoyingly enough, while Kakashi could come up with dozen ninjutsu to counter any situation they could posit, he only knew a measly five genjutsu: Bringer of Darkness, Genjutsu: Binding, Sly Mind Affect Technique, Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique and the Time Reversal Technique.

As soon as they had returned to Konoha, one of the first things he had done was test them for elemental affinities. Hers had been earth, so he had taught her the Earth Flow River, Rising Stone Spears, Split Earth Turn Around Palm, Underground Fish Projection and the Mud Clone.

After everything, she had to admit that she considered Naruto to be a friend, if not a particularly close one, although she wouldn't mind if he became one. Given how he was involved with both Hinata and Tenten, the thought that she would not have to deal with his unwanted romantic advances was helpful too.

She was glad that Naruto didn't seem to hold her accidentally wounding Tenten against her. Now she just hoped that Tenten wouldn't, although she wouldn't surprised if she did.

Her train of thought was interrupted however when the proctor called Kiba and Gaara down for the final match of the first round. But Naruto seemed to have gotten into a whispered argument with Kiba. Naruto was doing most of the speaking, with Kiba first shaking his head defiantly, but grew less so as Naruto continued to talk. Eventually Naruto told Kiba something that made him pale a bit. Nodding slowly to Naruto, Kiba walked to the rail.

"Hey Proctor, I want to forfeit!"

Looking up at him, he shouted back, "you sure?"

"Yeah, this guy is way too scary for me to deal with."

"Alright then, Fifth Match, winner, Sabaku no Gaara. With the conclusion of the First Round, we will have a short half-hour intermission before the start of the Second Round. Please place your bets for the next round with the men that will be circulating around now."

But as Genma switched the microphone off, what appeared to be many white feathers started drifting down from the sky. Those that the feathers settled on found their eyelids growing heavy.

Meanwhile up in the Kage's box, smirking from beneath his veil, Orochimaru-as-Kazekage threw the first blow.


	21. Action and Reaction

Chapter Twenty-One: Action and Reaction

Seeing Naruto and everyone around her suddenly start yawning and falling asleep on their feet, Sakura knew something was wrong. The fact that the urge to lie down and take a short nap was nearly overwhelming didn't help at all. Staggering over to where Naruto had collapsed, she shook him, slapped his face, and did everything she could think of to wake him up. Realizing she was running out of time as she was starting to yawn herself, placed a hand on Naruto's stomach and pushed what little chakra she could gather into him.

"Yah!" Naruto jerked upright in the blink of an eye. "Whoa, what is going on?"

Struggling to keep her eyes open Sakura slapped herself in an attempt to wake herself up. "Some kind (yawn) of genjutsu is being (yawn) over everyone here. Gotta get rid (yawn) of it."

Nodding slowly, Naruto carefully formed the rat seal and began gathering chakra in his hara. It took about a minute because of the genjutsu interfering, but Naruto held as much of his chakra in that one spot as he could before releasing the technique. Jolted out of their chakra-induced sleep, the few Sound and Sand operatives that had been infiltrated into the audience were quickly overmatched and either died or fled.

When Naruto finally got to take a look outside, Shiranui Genma was closely engaged with the Sand genin's jounin-sensei, a sickly purple cube covered the Kage's box, unaffected by his chakra wave and what was unmistakably demon chakra was radiating from where Gaara was, hidden from view by a spherical wall of sand.

Taking this all in an instant, Naruto called to the remaining genin in the fighters box. "Konoha genin, to me!" Leaping over the rail, he was quickly followed by Shikamaru, Sasuke, Sakura and Kiba. The others were surprised when Sora followed him also. As he fell, Naruto threw his hands together in the cross seal, grabbing every iota of his own chakra he could and forced it all into the Shadow Clone Technique. Drawing Kitsune, shinigami garb flapping as he fell, Naruto raced to support Genma, shadow clones splitting up. Three hundred clones headed directly for the massive three headed snake that had smashed through the wall, four hundred went for the hospital and the civilian evacuation bunker built into the Hokage Rock each, intent on guarding those two places, as they were prime targets for the enemy. Another five hundred were simply tasked to seek and destroy, to kill any enemy they found. Fifty went to guard the stadium's infirmary where Tenten was and an equal number headed out to find Hinata. The final batch of shadow clones stayed with the original, about a hundred and fifty in total.

Landing in the dirt of the arena, Naruto was beaten to Genma by a number of jounin, Anko, Kakashi, Gai and Asuma among them.

Baki was a skilled jounin, but there were few nin alive that could take the group arrayed against him. Glancing back to where Gaara was, he gritted his teeth. He had to buy enough time for Gaara to release Shukaku, and if his life was the price required, he was prepared to spend it.

"Now, before you do anything really stupid, take a moment and think. There are three of the most powerful jounin in Konoha standing not ten feet from you. Your ninjutsu has been nullified. The snake that has been summoned outside of Konoha will be dealt with shortly. Surrender now and you will not be mistreated."

"You seem to know a lot about our plan, Proctor-san. But you have to know that I cannot surrender. My Kazekage had ordered that Konoha be razed to the ground, so I have to put my utmost effort to making that happen. But you seem to have missed something. Please allow me to introduce Sabaku no Gaara, Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi no Tanuki, Shukaku."

The moment he stopped speaking, the ball of sand that had surrounded Gaara exploded, revealing a human-sized Shukaku, human legs sticking out of the bottom. Releasing a roar, Gaara raised his hand to the sky and slammed them down, causing a wave of sand to leap forward. The jounin each grabbed a genin or two and dodged, except Naruto who had been able to flash step out of the way.

Landing next to Kakashi, Naruto drew his blade once more, but directed his words to the jounin. "Kakashi-sensei, I need you to get everyone out of here. Go find Jiraiya and tell him what has happened."

"Hold on Naruto-san, we-"

"Kakashi, you will have to forgive my insubordination, but there is nothing you can do here. You are neither a Jinchuuriki nor are you a sealing expert. If you go up against Gaara right now, there is a more-than-likely chance you will die. Please leave this fight to me. As the Jinchuuriki of Konoha, this is the kind of battle I was created for. If you want there anything to be left of Konoha after this battle, do as I say and go to Jiraiya. He will most likely be up by the barrier on top of the Kage's box or dealing with the snake summon. Now GO!"

Jerked out of his stunned immobility, he quickly gathered everyone else up and headed to do as Naruto had ordered him to.

OoOoO

Glancing back at the stadium as he left Naruto to battle the raging tanuki demon, Kakashi left Gai in charge of the group as he sought Jiraiya out. Keeping to the roofs, Kakashi raced to where the three headed snake was. As he sped toward his target, Kakashi marveled at the fact that he, and not Naruto, was the one who had been ordered out of the stadium. There had only been one other person that had possessed that force of command, and he had been dead for over thirteen years. When Naruto had ordered him to gather the others up and leave, his first instinct was to obey first, and then ask questions. Shaking his head to clear them of extraneous thoughts, Kakashi narrowed his exposed eye and focused on his objective.

OoOoO

The battalion of Narutos tasked to eliminate enemy ninja had quickly split up into fifty squads of ten clones. One such squad had been roof hopping toward the east gates, thus far having been irritatingly unable to find any enemies. That drought was quickly ended when he came upon a group three Konoha ninja facing down a group of Oto-nin more than twice their number.

The Naruto-primary, the clone that led the group, led the charge against the enemy. Having used flash steps to approach, the Oto-nin were caught wholly unaware when close to a dozen clones fell on them from (what seemed to them) out of nowhere. Suddenly caught by a second and much more powerful force, the nine Sound-nin were cut down almost instantly.

"You and you," he pointed to a pair of secondaries, "grab him and get him out of here." The two clones did as they were told and carefully lifted a heavily wounded and unconscious ninja in a chunin flak vest and headed to the hospital. "Who is in charge here?"

"I am," a bald chunin carrying a pair of curved kunai in his hands said. "Who are you?"

"Hyuuga Naruto, genin. How are you and your other man? Are you still fit to fight?"

"Yes," the bald man replied carefully.

"Hatake Kakashi is going to be fighting that snake summon and he is going to need help. The Hokage had been incapacitated for the moment and the Ichibi has been released in the arena. Right now I believe that Hatake is the highest ranking officer already not too heavily engaged, so go and report in to him."

"And who the hell are you to be ordering me around? If anyone should be heading away from the fighting, it should be you."

"Negative. I have fifty hunter-killer teams of shadow clones combing Konoha, directing everyone to head to where Hatake is and get a command post set up. I am just a clone, so I would be best used to gather everyone in one place and try to kill any enemies I come across. Forgive my insubordination, but you will be of the most use at the command post."

Meeting the blond genin's steely gaze, the bald chunin found himself bowing slightly and motioning for his teammate to follow him almost without thinking. Looking back at the leader of the group of clones he asked one more time, "Who are you?"

As one all eight Narutos smiled slightly and replied, "We are Legion."

OoOoO

At the arena, Naruto was panting heavily, wavering slightly as Gaara almost effortlessly slaughtered his clones. He had thrown every bit of chakra that he could into his Mass Shadow Clone Technique, creating two thousand clones and was reaching his limit without dipping into the Kyuubi's chakra.

Forcing his hands together, Naruto created another fifty clones to replace those that Gaara had killed and went to one knee, gasping. He was saved from further ignominity by Sora who pulled him upright by his shoulder. "Careful there. Save some chakra for yourself, okay?"

"I will if I can. Sora, see if you can tie down any of his sand with some of your water techniques."

"I am not sure that will work. He could simply compact his sand into stone to wring the water out."

"Probably, but just try it. I think I might have a plan."

"Might have a plan?"

"Just try it would you? I am running out of clones again." Although any unspent chakra was returned to him when a shadow clone died, the strain of repeatedly creating so many clones was starting to tell. Not to mention the burns on his arms were interfering with his concentration.

Tightening her mouth into a thin line, she stepped away from Naruto. "Water Release: Violent Water Wave!" Puffing her cheeks out, Sora spat a large column of water at Gaara. Gaara raised his hands over his head to block the move, only to have his sand stripped from him completely from the force of the flow. Narrowing his gaze, he didn't have time to summon his sand to protect him as Naruto flash stepped in close, driving a Rasengan into his face. Gaara was hurled back into the stadium wall by the force of the blow, the right side of his face a bloody mess, his skintight Armor of Sand having absorbed the greater part of the blow before being stripped away.

Stumbling forward, touching the blood dripping from his face he gave the other two Jinchuuriki a wild-eyed stare before throwing his head back and screaming as loud as he could. When the sand that Sora had stripped away came rushing at them, it was all Naruto could do is grab Sora and flash step out of range. When the sand started reforming on him Naruto winced. When the sand covered his legs and he started growing, Naruto swore.

"We have to get out of here Sora. I think that is Gaara going into full one-tail mode. We have to get him out of Konoha before he starts causing too much damage."

"You know, that sounds like a really good idea. There will be less sand for him to absorb out in the forest too, so we might be able to prevent him from getting too big."

"Between the two of us, I am the faster one, so I am going to carry you."

"Can you do that teleportation thing with another person?"

Naruto hesitated before answering. "Probably. Only one way to find out." And with that, he scooped Sora up bridal-style and fled.

OoOoO

Shikamaru and his team had quickly evacuated the stadium once it became clear that they were way out of their league. Once Jinchuuriki started to brawl, it was long past time to be gone. Shikamaru and the others had been heading towards the Hokage's Tower to report into whoever had taken charge, but he had been separated from Choji and Shino. Currently, he was lurking in a narrow alley, examining the empty street. It looked clear, but he decided to wait another two minutes just to make sure. The decision was taken from him when a young woman with an infant tied to her chest dashed across the street.

Her way was impeded instantly when a dozen ninja in urban fatigues rounded the corner. Sighting the civilian, they paused to examine their prey. Shikamaru grimaced and eased a kunai into his hand, preparing himself to attack. In all likelihood, he wouldn't be able to buy the woman more than a handful of seconds before he was overwhelmed. But she was a citizen of Konoha and it was his duty to defend her with his life.

Crouching in preparation to strike, he was arrested by the sight of a figure in black materializing between the woman and the enemy. Shikamaru was forced back a step and the woman was forced to her knees by the malevolence radiating from Naruto. He had felt the chakra that Naruto had used against Neji in the stadium, but this was different. This was not chakra, but something more. The thought of killing intent passed through his mind, but that wasn't it either. This was like Naruto had gathered all his negative emotions and released them into the atmosphere.

His mouth dropped open in horror when Naruto charged the group, silvery gladius held in one hand, point pointing at the blue sky. Shikamaru blinked and the next thing he saw was Naruto in the center of the group, killing. The Sound shinobi barely had a chance to flinch in terror before Naruto had cut three of them down in a single stroke. That was all that was required to break them, turning to flee as fast as they could. But Naruto killed them anyways, stabbing fleeing men in the back, lopping off arms, legs, heads. Eviscerating a man as he turned to try to block a cut, leaving him to writhe in agony, unable to decide whether to clutch the bloody stump of an arm that had gotten in the way of Naruto's cut or try to hold in his bowels. Small as his blade was, it had not problem cutting through anything.

Shikamaru quickly turned away vainly trying to suppress his rising gorge. When he looked back, Naruto stood in the middle of the killing field, laughing. "Shikamaru-kun! Come out from your hidey hole and join me! This is fun!"

Shikamaru jerked violently as the young man called out to him. Slowly pushing himself to his feet, he walked into the street. "Shikamaru, why were you hiding? You missed out on the fight. I was going to leave you a few, but I got a little carried away."

"Y-yes, I can see that Naruto-kun." He tried to block out the sounds of the dying and the smells of the dead. "I think I had better escort this woman to one of the shelters though."

Naruto gave a disappointed frown but then shrugged. "Oh well. More for me then, I guess." Shikamaru didn't precisely cringe at his next smile, but it was close. There was blood on his pointed teeth, and he doubted it was Naruto's. Closing his eyes for a second he opened them and pointed down the street. "There is a hunter-killer squad about two blocks that way, you can go meet up with them if you want." The black-haired boy nodded mutely. Bringing his blade to his mouth, Naruto licked a spot of blood from it and started to walk past Shikamaru and the terrified civilian.

"Please, sp-spare us Shinigami-sama! I-I ha-ave a daughter!" The woman's words were nearly impossible to make out from her uncontrolled sobbing, but there was enough to make out what she had said.

"Don't worry, my lady. Only those who are my enemy have reason to fear me. This man is going to take you to one of the shelters now. Go with him and you will be safe."

Helping the trembling woman to her feet, Shikamaru couldn't stop seeing those blood-colored eyes, even after Naruto was long gone and the slaughtering field was far behind them. _'Shinigami? Yes, I can believe it.' _And that was what scared him the most.

OoOoO

Sarutobi Konohamaru was quickly coming to the realization that his boss was neither a nice person, nor someone to mess with. As soon as the teachers started to realize what was going on, they had quickly evacuated the school. Unfortunately, they had run across a squad of Narutos on the way to the nearest bunker. There were four of them, and were engaged in the process of slaughtering a mixed bag of Sound and Sand ninja. Almost as one, the teachers jumped to the front of the group to physically block the sight from the children. But even from what little Konohamaru had seen, it was bad. The metallic odor of blood was overpowering, and the scent of voided bowels did not make it any more appetizing. The Sandaime's grandson was far from the only one collapsing in terror and throwing up, although from the sights and scents or from the evil chakra and the malicious aura pouring from Naruto was up for debate.

As quickly as they could, the instructors were herding the students away from the carnage, down a side street to loop around back towards the shelter they were heading for. The group was halted for a second time when the four Naruto's simply appeared, no blur of motion, no swirl of leaves or wind to signal his appearance, in front of the group. One of the four, probably the least bloody of the group, stepped forward. The teachers either armed themselves or slid into taijutsu stances. "Whoa, hold on there, I'm one of the good guys. Leaf hitai-aite, see?"

"I see you Naruto-kun. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I assume you are heading toward one of the bunkers?"

"Yeah, we are."

"I will escort you there then. There are some large groups of invaders roaming about. I've lost six clones from this group to ambushes so far."

"This group? The real one isn't here?"

"Nah, the original is out fighting the One-Tailed Demon in the arena. There are about five hundred clones, probably a little less now, out hunting down the invaders and escorting anyone we find to one of the shelters or ordering them to the command post."

Iruka almost wondered at Naruto ordering anyone around, but chose not to question him too much, as they were still in the middle of a street. "Okay, then, let's go." The group continued forward, with a Naruto at each of the cardinal directions. Iruka didn't have to tell any of the other instructors to keep a close eye on the boy. He seemed to be under control now, but he had been slaughtering those other shinobi with utter abandon not two minutes ago.

Naruto flashed a grin at Konohamaru, unmindful of his slit-pupiled, red eyed gaze, nor his blood-drenched garb. Konohamaru for his part offered a hesitant and fearful smile back at his former hero, wondering at the changes in him.

OoOoO

Naruto was pretty good at flash stepping, but carrying another person while doing it was quite a bit harder. It was more than the increased weight and wind resistance, it was like Sora didn't want to move, and he had to drag her after him. That was why he and Sora were able to keep just ahead of Gaara. Despite the fact that he was over ten feet tall, in increased mass didn't seem to hinder him much. Naruto created a handful of clones to hang back slightly and continue to harass Gaara with kunai and shuriken, making sure that he didn't decide to wander off to find easier prey. Once they passed the wall, Naruto only went another thousand yards before halting. He let Sora down and went to one knee, panting while Sora threw up. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she muttered, "Remind me never to ride the Uzumaki Express again."

Naruto didn't get the chance to reply as they had to dodge a hail of sand shuriken. Using the surrounding foliage as cover, Naruto and Sora were able to avoid anything really nasty. "Naruto, we are going to have to break out our demons as well as if we are going to beat him. His size alone has us at a major disadvantage!" While Gaara had been pursuing Sora and Naruto he had gained another twenty feet, at least, starting to peak the trees.

"No problem Sora. Just be careful. I am not sure how well I am going to be able to control myself."

"Fine then! I am going two tails, gimme some cover for a second." Sora did not dare go three tails, because while the third tail would give her more strength, it would require turning control over to Leviathan, and she really doubted that he would be able to keep up with Gaara's lightning fast strikes.

Mustering what he could of his dwindling chakra, Naruto summoned three or four dozen shadow clones and swarmed the behemoth tanuki.

Given his burned arms, the fifteen hundred or so shadow clones remaining in Konoha, the extended flash stepping and now the all the jumping about he was having to do, Naruto was reaching the bottom of the barrel. He could only hope that he could control the Kyuubi.

His internal rambling was cut off when a wave of chakra washed over him. Looking over to where Sora was, he saw Sora floating in the center of a translucent three-tailed turtle. The edges seemed somewhat malleable and he saw bubbles suspended around Sora, so he realized that her demon was made of water. Made sense, given that the Three-Tails was a turtle. Leaping onto the back of the shell as Sora charged Gaara, he was only slightly surprised when he was able to stand on it.

Sora and Gaara started exchanging blows while Naruto, charged with Kyuubi-chakra created a double handful of shadow clones. Ordering them to charge Gaara, he was only slightly surprised when they exploded with more force than was usual. Gaara roared at the glassed craters his clones had created, and suddenly redoubled his efforts. Naruto had to dance a bit as Gaara's Sand Shuriken started to pierce his chakra cloak. Although with Gaara's attention divided between trying to catch his clones and dealing with Sora, the sand was not as fast as it otherwise might have been. He had to retreat back onto Sanbi-Sora when Gaara emerged from where ever he had been inside Shukaku. Sora had been able to fight Gaara to a standstill as it was, if Gaara got any stronger, things could get sticky. Unlike before, this form of Gaara's was fairly impervious to water techniques which negated her main strength.

Both Jinchuuriki had a 'what the hell' moment when Gaara executed the Feigning Sleep Technique. For whatever reason, as soon as he fell asleep, his speed and dexterity increased several times over. Where Sora had been able to match Gaara in brute strength before, she was now struggling to keep up with his speed. Simply put, she was out of her element. Her demon was a turtle, and while she would be running laps around him were they in water, they weren't. Were they battling on a big enough pond or lake, she would have gone three tails and let Leviathan tear him apart. The best she could do was try to tank him and hope that Naruto was either able to pull enough Kyuubi-chakra out or come up with a plan to take him out.

Seeing an opportunity in Gaara's exposed body, Naruto once again boarded Shukaku. But he quickly got bogged down by Gaara-shaped sand clones that were faster and even more durable than the original was when Gaara, who had been sticking out of Shukaku's head like some kind of weird pimple was zipped away.

Naruto had to abandon ship yet again when Shukaku started to destabilize. Looking past the impeding sand clones, he saw a dazed and groggy Gaara get struck in the chest by a large ball of water, knocking him out of Shukaku. Looking from where the ball of water came from, he saw a person perched at the tippy-top of a tree from less than thirty yards away, unmistakably Tenten because of the rifle she had pointing in their direction. However she had gotten there, he wasn't going to question good luck when he saw it.

Making back to Sora just in time, he jumped to the ground and approached an unconscious Gaara. Digging him out of the sand that was partially burying him was a bit of a chore, but as soon as he did, he slung him over his shoulder in a fireman's carry and started staggering to Konoha.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Sora when she approached him with her kodachi bared. (He made a mental note to ask where the hell she kept it when he had a chance.)

"Put him down Naruto-kun."

"Like hell I will. There is no way you are going to kill him Sora."

"Naruto, he is an enemy of Konoha, and what is more, he can barely control his demon. You take him into Konoha and the first thing he is going to do is start killing again."

"How can you say any of that Sora? You are a Jinchuuriki too, you should understand a little of what he is going through at least!"

Sora shook her head. "Trust me Naruto. While I have never been treated as badly as you have, I can do what is necessary even so."

"No, Sora, he is coming with me. I will take responsibility for anything he does while in Konoha if I have to. Besides, I don't even know why we are having this conversation. We are in Konoha, and he is my prisoner, so what I say goes."

She shrugged. "If you insist then. I am telling you that you are going to regret it though."

OoOoO

Orochimaru was mad. No, strike that, he was _pissed._ Things were not going as they were supposed to be going at all. And he had a good idea of who was the source of his misfortune. When Kabuto had initiated the Temple of Nirvana Technique, it had been dispelled a minute later by a wave of chakra. In addition, that chakra wave had disrupted the Four Violet Flames Battle Encampment long enough for four ANBU to leap through before the Sound Four had been able to stabilize it. Had it just been him and his former teacher, he had no doubt who would have come out on top. As it was though, he was having trouble getting any of his forbidden techniques off. He had tried to activate Summoning: Impure World Resurrection, but had been forced to break it off midway through the hand seals or lose his head.

If it wasn't for the heavily modified body he was inhabiting, he probably would have died several times during the fight. His second heart increased the amount of adrenaline and other performance-enhancing hormones he could run through his body at one time. His multi-lung let him breath despite getting a lungful of poison gas blown in his face. The oolitic kidney processed what poison he inhaled. He thoroughly enjoyed the looks of shock he received when he shrugged off what should have been lethal attacks. It was hard to tell through the mask, but he nearly laughed at the stunned surprise one ANBU must have had on his face when his sword snapped when he tried to stab him in the chest. The ossmodula in his chest had fused his ribs into a harder-than-steel natural breastplate.

All was not bad though. He had killed one of the ANBU with the Kusanagi almost right off the bat and tagged Sarutobi across the shoulder, but after that they had been careful to avoid it after that. The ANBU's death had been neither short nor pleasant.

Growling as he dodged a thrust from Enma in his staff form, he struck out with the Kusanagi, which was parried in turn. Letting one of the ANBU pierce his hand with his sword, Orochimaru lashed out with a side kick and blasted the ANBU off his feet toward the purple luminescent wall. Annoyingly, the ANBU caught himself in time and managed to avoid a grisly death.

Seeing his three headed snake summon be desummoned and not seeing Gaara at all, Orochimaru snarled. It seemed that the battle outside the purple wall was dying down, more and more Konoha shinobi gathering outside, Orochimaru was forced to conclude that if he lingered here much longer the chances of his escape grew slimmer.

"Damn you Sarutobi-sensei, but it seems that we have gained quite the audience. Unfortunately, I have a pretty bad case of stage fright, so I am afraid that, as much as I might wish otherwise, I will have to cut our reunion short. Fire Release: Solar Flare!"

Focusing his chakra to his forehead, Orochimaru created a blinding flash of light so bright that even those watching through the twin barriers were struck blind. Orochimaru motioned for his Sound Four to drop the barriers and having each of them grab hold, teleported away from the battlefield with a series of body flickers.

Groaning in pain as he felt the poison from the wound in his shoulder burn, he gasped as he was laid on his back. "Get... Tsunade... only she... heal me..."

Gently letting Sarutobi's head fall back, the ANBU captain, along with three other ANBU swiftly carried the unconscious Hokage to the hospital. When they arrived, they were greeted by several hundred Narutos. Passing by their worried stares, the ANBU captain entered the chaos of the hospitals lobby. Despite the efforts of Naruto's hunter-killer squads, over a hundred ninja hand been killed, with a little under three times that wounded.

So when the Hokage was carried in, it was a few seconds before anyone had the chance to find out what was going on. Of course, once they realized who he was, everything just stopped for a few seconds, before erupting back into activity. Once he was safely ensconced in the ICU, it was determined that Sarutobi had placed himself in a sort of hibernation trance, slowing his bodily functions so that the poison's spread was nearly halted.

A sample of his blood was taken so the poison could be analyzed and an antidote formulated. But the poison was nothing that anyone, doctor, medic or lab technician had ever seen. The poison was constantly altering itself, so that any antidote that was created would be rendered obsolete before it could be finished.

Remembering what Sarutobi had told him as he had fallen unconscious, he ordered that the Council be assembled, by force if necessary.

OoOoO

By the time that he and Sora reached the tree that Tenten had been using as a snipers platform, she had reached the bottom and was sitting against the trunk. Tenten was wearing her black coat buttoned closed over her torso, but judging from her how she was a little pale and breathing as if from mild exertion, something was wrong. Setting Gaara aside, he barged through the dozen clones that surrounded her. Carefully opening her coat, Naruto saw that the medics had removed her shirt, preserving her modesty by binding her breasts with the same bandages that were wrapped around her stomach. There was a thin line of red staining the bandages over where Sakura had cut her.

"What in the world are you doing here Tenten-chan?"

"Looking after you, duh."

"You really shouldn't have. It looks like you opened your wound a bit again."

"I'll be okay. I woke up a just as you started drawing Gaara away from Konoha. It took me a while to find a tree tall enough to shoot out of, and then I had to wait for Gaara to pop up. I didn't dare use anything lethal, in case I missed and hit you."

Naruto sighed. There really wasn't much use in berating Tenten, as she had not done anything that he would have. "That was great shooting too."

"It should be. I have spent months practicing. At least I finally got to use it in combat, even if it was a less-lethal cartridge." Jerking his head to where he had dropped Gaara, he gently scooped Tenten up, trying to jostle her as little as possible to avoid agitating her wound. He didn't think it looked too bad, but while she wasn't a vanilla mortal, she did not have his regeneration either.

He started shifting uncomfortably when he reentered the village when he noticed some of the looks that the civilians and shinobi were giving him. The hospital had taken some damage, but his clones has prevented it from taking much more than the superficial. A broken window here, a few pockmarks there. The moment that he entered the lobby, three nurses descended on him and relieved him of both Gaara and Tenten.

It turned out that Gaara suffered from a couple of fractured ribs and mild concussion from the fall, his Armor of Sand absorbing the brunt of the impact. He stood watch over the unconscious boy until Jiraiya arrived. The older man quickly inscribed a chakra-suppressing seal over the cuffs that he wore and an IV was inserted in his arm, giving him enough sedatives to knock out a horse. Jiraiya eventually guided Naruto out of the room and to the one that Tenten was occupying, where Naruto flopped down in one of the cushioned seats and passed out.

When he woke up, it was early evening, judging from the sunlight slanting through the window. Tenten was awake and glaring at the wall he saw as he rubbed the sleepies from his eyes. Yawning and stretching the kinks from his body, he blinked in surprise when he realized that he and Tenten were not the only ones in the room as he heard some loud whispering cut off as soon as he started moving. In fact, the lion's share of the Genin Twelve were present. The only people who were not in attendance were Neji, Sasuke and Lee.

Wincing slightly as his back popped loudly, Naruto sat up. "Yo," accompanying the single syllable with a lazy wave of his hand. Nobody said anything as he pushed himself into a proper sitting position, everyone just looking at him with carefully blank stares as Hinata stepped forward.

"How are you feeling Naruto-kun?"

"Like crap. My back is killing me, my head is splitting and I feel like I could sleep for a week." Everyone chucked slightly at that.

"Given some of the stuff you pulled off during the invasion, you should be thankful that you got off lightly." Shikamaru was leaning against the opposite wall, with his hands folded over his chest. He had a frown on his face that said he had something to say, but he wasn't sure how to say it. "I mean, how many shadow clones did you make? From all the reports from people seeing sizable groups of your clones just about everywhere, last count had somewhere between fifteen hundred and two thousand."

"Eh, that sounds about right." Scanning the group and seeing how all of them wore the same carefully neutral expression, he asked "what?"

"You know, we should be asking you the same question Naruto. What happened to you during the invasion?"

"What do you mean? I am fine."

Shikamaru paused, gathering his thoughts before he spoke again. "I am talking about your clones, Naruto. Some of them were pretty... violent out there, and it has a lot of us worried."

Naruto did not respond at first, and Hinata tensed up, Tenten balling her fists in her sheets. "What did you see?" Naruto asked quietly.

"I saw you, or more likely a clone, slaughtering a group of Sound shinobi. It was absolutely merciless, fighting without regard for itself. It was enjoying the slaughter, killing even after they started to run. And the aura it was exuding, even that guy from Sand didn't come close to the feeling of pure malice it was giving off. There was a woman and her child watching and I am afraid that she might have gone mad from watching the massacre. She is here in the hospital, heavily sedated because whenever she wakes, she starts screaming about how you were the Shinigami in the flesh, come to kill us all. Right now, I am not sure which nickname has become more popular, Shinigami no Naruto, or the Lightning Legion. That one came from a pair of chunin that were rescued by one of the main gates by one of your hunter-killer teams apparently. But in any case, I am not the only one who saw some of your clones seemingly out of control. And Naruto, it has us worried. So I ask again, _what happened?_"

Naruto ducked his gaze and balled his fists, letting his bangs fall forward and obscure his eyes. "I suppose it was only a matter of time before everyone else found out. Do you know what my birthday is? No? It is October tenth, the day that the Yondaime Hokage died to destroy the Kyuubi no Youko. Except that that isn't quite true. While the Yondaime did die that day, the Kyuubi is a being comprised purely of chakra, possessing no physical form, so it cannot be killed, much in the way that a tsunami or hurricane cannot be killed. The Yondaime used the last of his life to seal the Kyuubi away, seal it in such a manner that it could not harm the village again. The result of that sealing is me."

Several of the genin gasped in horror. "So that is why our parents... You are the Kyuubi!"

"NO!" Hinata snarled, whirling between him and the group, jabbing a finger at the group. "Naruto-kun is NOT the Kyuubi," she was baring her teeth and furrowing her brow in anger. "Naruto-kun is the vessel that contains the Kyuubi, nothing more!"

Everyone recoiled in dual shock, one from seeing Hinata yell at them, two from the anger in her voice. "But he just admitted..."

"He has admitted NOTHING! NOTHING except being the one thing that stands between us and destruction! He has been ignored and abused all his life for nothing he could control, for something that we should be honoring him for, yet most of you have spit on him for no better reason than 'Mommy said to!' You should be on your knees thanking him for saving each and every one of your lives, if not for today, then for yesterday, and the day before. For every day that he has lived, holding the Kyuubi away."

"Hinata-chan, it is okay," Naruto reached out and put an arm on hers, pulling it down and pulling her back a bit.

"No, Naruto-kun, it is NOT okay! You have done more to save this village than all of them combined, and they still hate you."

"Hinata-chan, it is okay. It is not their fault I have been mistreated. Their parents were the ones who told them to do so, so they did. You cannot blame them for only doing as their parents taught."

"Yes I can, I can and I do. I can because they do not deserve your sympathy or your forgiveness."

Naruto met her eyes with a look of sadness and said quietly, "then you are no better than they are, Hinata-chan."

Everyone looked on, shell-shocked, first at Hinata, soft-spoken, mumbling, blushing, fingertip-poking Hinata exploding in genuine rage at them, and then at Naruto, who couldn't deny her the least thing, for putting her down. Nobody said anything as he picked up his coat and slung the baldric to his sword over his shoulder, and left.

"You know the funniest thing about all of this?" Tenten asked from her place in the bed, "even Naruto is scared of the Kyuubi."

OoOoO

The first thing Hinata did after leaving the hospital was go straight home. She tucked her sandals in the cubbyhole set into the wall and headed towards his usual hangouts, Ichiraku's, the Academy, the Hokage Rock and finally her and Naruto's apartment at little short of a run. She surprised several people as she rushed by with barely a wave of acknowledgment. She flung the main door open and dashed to fling Naruto's open as well. Once she had ascertained that Naruto was not in their apartment, she sank to her knees in frustration. Her anger welling up again, she left the apartment and headed toward the dojo. If she couldn't explain herself to Naruto, maybe she could just work off some steam.

OoOoO

Hiashi was in his study writing a message when a soft knock sounded at his door. Shuffling his papers and tapping them against the desk, he set them down and called for the person to enter. "What is it?"

"Hiashi-sama, please, come to the dojo, it is Hinata-sama."

"What is wrong? Has she been injured?" Although why she would be in the dojo instead of the infirmary or hospital if she had been was a good question.

"Please, Hiashi-sama, just come." Hiashi nearly backhanded the man when he showed the audacity to actually tug at his sleeve. But the look on his face said that there was something seriously wrong, so he ignored the insult and just followed the man. As they drew close, Hiashi could feel chakra being expended, and a lot of it. When they rounded the corner, Hiashi was greeted with the sight of nearly a dozen Branch House members huddled around the open doorway to the dojo. Now that they were close, Hiashi could hear the sound of breaking wood. When he looked through the open door, he completely understood the man's urgency and the other Branch House members shock.

Hinata was in the middle of the dojo with just about all the wooden practice dummies in the dojo arrayed around her in a ring. But it was Hinata herself that was the center of attention. Hinata was leaping about, systematically destroying the target dummies. First of all was the shell of chakra encasing her, so thick and strong that it was visible to the naked eye. Next were her attack routines, highly advanced Jyuuken forms that she had most definitely not learned yet, attacking with her hands and her feet, even her elbows and knees. Finally was the fact that she was not using fingertip needle jabs, or even the less refined palm strikes, but curled fists, striking with almost explosive power.

He watched in surprise as Hinata turned on a dummy and lopped the head off with a reverse round house kick, following it up with a punch that went clear through the wooden torso, about where the heart was. But she was not finished. She lashed out with a knee to the groin, splintering the wood six inches deep and finished it off with a sweeping left-to-right elbow that snapped the pole the dummy was mounted on and sent it crashing into the next one in line.

Clearing his throat, he blinked in surprise at her looks. Hinata was sweating profusely from exertion, face redder than a tomato and fishnet-covered torso heaving wildly. He ignored the disapproval at her displaying her body in such an indecent fashion, instead seeing how her hair was sodden, strands glued to her forehead and cheeks with perspiration. Calmly surveying the destruction, her father slowly walked into the room.

He took his time before speaking, ignoring his daughter's glare. "I see that you have taken the initiative and decided to do some training on your own. Although I would say that you are being a little rough on the equipment." Hinata said nothing. "Tell me, what has gotten you so riled up? Has Naruto-kun said something to you?"

And almost without warning, Hinata struck with a high-pitched shriek. Chakra shell leaping up once again, she took a skipping back step and lashed out with a full-armed backfist which he blocked easily, although the power behind it caught him a little off guard. She barely reacted to his block, instead whirling the other way to attempt to hit him with a reverse elbow. He blocked that too, as well as the following straight punch, knee strike, roundhouse kick and the quick series of vertical kicks chambered from an upside-down tripod she went into after he blocked her roundhouse kick (something he would have expected from Naruto, not her.) Finally catching a foot, he lifted her off the ground, only to be caught completely off guard when she headbutted him between the legs. There was a collective gasp from the peanut gallery as Hiashi slowly collapsed to the floor, cupping his genitals in an attempt to retroactively block the attack. Hinata had been wearing her hitai-aite on her forehead for some strange reason, Hiashi absently noted as he crossed his eyes.

Shoulders slumping and head dipping to the ground suddenly, Hinata went to her knees. Several servants rushed to help the Clan Patron up, but he waved them off, tottering to his feet. Hinata certainly hadn't pulled any power on that attack. Trying to blink the tears of pain from his eyes, he barely managed to get to the bench built along the wall before he collapsed again, although he winced again as his battered genitals came to rest on the hard wood.

Clearing his throat he spoke once Hinata sat down on the bench next to him. "Care to tell me what is wrong?" His voice was a little higher than he was used to, but intelligible nevertheless.

"It is Naruto-kun. Some of the others from our Academy class were in the hospital when he woke up. One of them accused him of being the Kyuubi, and when I defended him, he said he was disappointed in me. How could he say that? I have always been there for him. I have always supported him in everything he has done. I was defending him! What was wrong with that?"

"What did you say?"

"I told them that they should be thanking him for having the Kyuubi sealed in him, and that they had mistreated him for no good reason. Naruto-kun said it was okay, but I told him they didn't deserve for him to forgive them."

"And that was when he said the he was disappointed in you?" Hinata just nodded mutely. "Well, have you thought that Naruto has already forgiven them for their past transgressions?"

"But why would he? They have done nothing to earn his forgiveness."

"Perhaps he would rather let their past behavior be forgotten rather than spend the energy to hate them?"

"Do you think?"

"I think that this is something that you have to figure out for yourself."

Hinata sighed. Picking a towel off the rack, she began mopping the sweat from her face and neck. Exiting the dojo, she saw that the Branch House members that had been watching her vent had drawn to each side of the open door. Naruto was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Na-Naruto-kun! How long have you been there?"

"Long enough." In truth, as soon as he had left the hospital, he had sought Jiraiya out, but the man had not been very helpful with what Naruto had wanted. Seeing Hinata leap to his defense and start screaming at the other genin had caught him by surprise. He had not realized that she had taken his mistreatment so badly, and he was sorry to see her acting just like the ones that she was berating. Eventually he had decided to head home and try to get some sleep. But he had been drawn towards the sight of everyone crouching in the door to the dojo. He had arrived just in time to see Hinata nail Hiashi and listen to their subsequent conversation.

Naruto jerked his head in the direction of their apartment and turned to head to it. "Come on. We can speak there." Naruto turned away and headed toward their apartment, letting Hinata trail him. He closed the doors to their apartment gently once they had arrived and turned around to find Hinata on her knees on the floor in the middle of the room, head lowered in shame.

Seating himself on the hard wood floor just in front of her after he hung his sword on a peg near the door, he waited until she peeked at him through her bangs before speaking. "Raise your head and look at me in the eye Hinata-chan. I am not angry at you, and I am not going to hit you."

"I deserve anything that you want to do to me, Naruto-kun."

Naruto sighed. This was not going to be easy. "Hinata-chan, you have done nothing for me to punish you for."

"B-but you said that you were disappointed in me. I deserve to be punished for letting you down!"

"Hinata-chan, I am not going to punish you," he repeated.

"Why not?" By now she was almost in tears, unable to understand what she had done wrong, and why he would not correct her. Her worst fear had come true, she had let Naruto down, and she did not know how.

"Do you know what you did wrong?" Hinata shook her head silently. "And that is why I will not punish you. You honestly thought you were doing right by me by acting as you did in the hospital. You thought that because they had hated me, that gave you the right to hate them." Naruto paused long enough for her to signal that he was on the right track before he continued. "The thing that makes me different from them is that even though they do hate me for something I have no control over, I do not hate them back. I found out a very long time ago that hating one person takes a lot of energy, and hating an entire village takes even more. I decided that I am going to win their respect and admiration in spite of everything that they held against me. I am going to be so awesome that they had no choice but love me." He paused again, organizing his thoughts before voicing them. "That is why I was disappointed in you Hinata-chan. I thought that you would be able to ignore their hate and try to prove them wrong."

"How? I know that you have never hated them, but how can you be so indifferent about it?"

"Because of my mother, the Sandaime, you, Tenten, Iruka, the Ichirakus, everyone that knows of the Kyuubi sealed in me and does not hate me for it. They prove that there is something in this village worth protecting, something worth loving. One day, I will prove to every single person in this village that I am not something to hate and fear, but someone to respect and admire."

Naruto wanted to growl when Hinata just lowered her head towards the floor again after he finished his speech. Sometimes he really wanted to shake Hiashi for giving Hinata such an inferiority complex.

"Forgive me Naruto-kun. You are a better person than I am to be able to forgive them for what they have done to you. I cannot help but dislike them for treating you so badly for no good reason. I don't deser-"

"Finish that sentence and I really will be angry with you." He waited a moment before he spoke again to see if she would finish her sentence. "Hinata-chan, I do not want to ever hear you put yourself down in front of me. You are not dumb or slow or weak or inconvenient or anything like that. You are strong, intelligent, fast, fun, beautiful, and most of all, mine. So don't you dare imply that you are in any way undeserving of me, because that means that you do not want us to be together, and I know that that is not true. So do not lie to me by saying that you are not good enough for me."

Despite everything he had said, Hinata still had her eyes on the floor and wouldn't meet his gaze. Suddenly growing angry, he lurched forward and seized her by the back of the head and pulled her close to him, mashing her lips with bruising force, snaking his tongue past her teeth and making her give him access to her mouth.

For her part, Hinata was shocked. She had been trying to convince Naruto that she wasn't good for him, but he wasn't having any of it. And when she couldn't meet his eyes, he snatched her and… kissed her. But it was not like the times they had kissed before. This time, Naruto was in control, completely and without doubt. He was much more demanding, much more forceful with her than he ever had been before.

When he finally released her, she was not quite gasping, but certainly red in the face. "You are mine, Hinata-chan. I do not like hearing that you disagree with me. I am telling you that you are worthy of me, that you are more than strong enough to be with me, and I will not hear otherwise. Alright?" Naruto had started out in a growl, but had softened to a murmur by the end. "Okay?" he reiterated when Hinata seemed slow on answering.

"Okay," she replied at last.

"Good. So we are not going to have this conversation again?"

Hinata shook her head, smiling a bit. "No, no we won't." Naruto and Hinata retreated to the low-slung couch with Hinata securely in Naruto's embrace. The silence stretched between them, completely free of any unease or tension. Finally, Hinata spoke again, a bit softer than normal, but not in the tone she had used before. "Where did you go when you left the hospital? I looked for you, but couldn't find you anywhere."

"I went looking for Jiraiya."

"What for? I assume you found him?"

"Yeah I did, on top of the Hokage Tower."

"What did you want with him, if I may ask?"

Sighing, he got to his feet before flopping down on the low-slung couch in the middle of the room. Cradling his head in his hands, he said. "I asked him to seal the Kyuubi away, permanently."

**Flashback no Jutsu**

Jiraiya was leaning on the rail looking over the snaking columns of grey smoke wafting over Konoha. "Evening brat."

"Evening Jiraiya-sensei."

Turning around to face Naruto, he raised an eyebrow. "The only time you call me Jiraiya-sensei is when you have something heavy on your mind. So what is up?"

"I have a request of you." Jiraiya waited for Naruto to continue, and made a 'let's get on with it' motion after a few seconds. Clenching and unclenching his hands, Naruto raised his gaze to look the old man directly in the eyes before he went on. I want you to modify the Dead Demon Consuming Seal for me, to seal the Kyuubi's chakra and mind away completely."

Straightening up from his relaxed slouch, Jiraiya returned Naruto's gaze without blinking. "No."

Naruto stared at Jiraiya in disbelief before shouting, "No?"

"No," he repeated.

"Why not?"

"Because Naruto, I am not going to seal away the most powerful weapon this village has."

"Bur what about me? What good is a weapon if it cuts the hand of the wielder as often as the enemy?"

"Then you have to learn how to control it so that it doesn't."

"But I can't."

"You have to Naruto. You are the Jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tails. It is what you were made to do."

Naruto shook his head vigorously in the negative. "I can't control it Jiraiya. Nobody can."

"Yes, you can Naruto, if you try hard enough. You have to."

"No, I am telling you that I can't control the Kyuubi. I just can't do it."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Jiraiya quirked an eyebrow in concern. "What is wrong Naruto? This isn't like you, giving up before you have started."

Naruto lowered his gaze, staring at the floor. "I... just can't. It is that simple."

"Naruto-"

"I can't control it! Okay? No one can! It is too big, too powerful, too much for any one man to handle! You do not know what it is like to be possessed by it! It is a high like you could not possibly imagine! With the Kyuubi in me, there is nothing I cannot do, nothing I will not do! The power, it, it is unbelievable. I am not alive when I am not channeling the Kyuubi's chakra, everything is a pale imitation of the real world. The Kyuubi chakra is better than the best ramen, sake and sex, all at the same time. And there is nothing in this world or out of it that could stop me if I were to embrace the Kyuubi completely. It is addicting, and may the gods forgive me, I want it. I want it more than anything I have wanted before."

"You are afraid of the Kyuubi."

"Afraid? Are you shitting? I am terrified. When I am holding the Kyuubi, there is absolutely nothing that matters to me more than the fight. I would not hesitate to try to kill you if you were to get in between me and the fight. I have not hurt anyone yet, but it is only a matter of time, I know it."

Jiraiya was silent for a long time, carefully studying the tears leaking out of the corners of Naruto's eyes. He could tell that Naruto honestly doubted his ability to hold the Kyuubi back when he needed to, and that almost convinced Jiraiya then and there. "I am sorry Naruto, but I won't seal the Kyuubi away. You have too much potential to seal away so much of your strength so casually."

"Casually? Have you not been listening to anything I have said?"

"Yes I have, but you have not convinced me that the Kyuubi is wholly beyond your control."

Naruto clenched his fist and glared at his mentor. "Well then, what would it take to convince you? Do I have to kill someone before you will believe me?"

"No you don't. And if the day comes that I do believe that you cannot control the Kyuubi, I promise you that I will do everything in my power to seal it away forever. But that day has not come, and I will not do it until it does."

"Thanks for nothing then." Naruto whirled and stalked out of the Tower.

"Hold on Naruto. I did not say I would help you. I can't teach you to control it, but I can try to help you. The Council has asked me to look for a woman called Tsunade to heal the Hokage. If you want, I can take you along and begin to try to help you to learn to control the Kyuubi."

"When would we leave?"

"Tomorrow morning, abt about nine a.m. by the east gate. It might take a month or so to find her, so pack accordingly."

"Alright then. Nine by the east gate. I just hope that you are not making a deadly mistake."

"Kid, I am one of the Sannin, I know what I am doing."

"For everyone in Konoha, I fervently wish you are."

**Flashback no Jutsu KAI!**

Hinata was silent for a long time after Naruto stopped talking. She wasn't sure what she should think of Naruto's recounting of his conversation. She did not like to hear about how Naruto doubted himself, how he was afraid of the power lurking within him. "I think you should follow Jiraiya-sama's advice. If he thinks he can help you learn to use the Kyuubi, then you should go with him."

"I'm going to. I just hope that he really can help me. Some of the things my clones did and the way they acted made me realize that the Kyuubi isn't as safe as I used to think. I am just glad that none of them went too far over. I don't know what I would do if anyone had been killed by one of my clones."

"You would never deliberately hurt another Konoha ninja, and that includes your clones."

Naruto shook his head. "You don't get what it is like to be channeling the Kyuubi. When I am, there is nothing more important than the fight. Anyone who gets between me and my enemy is also an enemy. I do not think that there is anyone I would not attack. The power, it is beyond belief. You know they say how power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, well I have a hard time thinking of a situation that fits that saying better."

"I don't believe that Naruto-kun."

"Doesn't make it any less true. I want you to promise me something: if you ever see me out of control, run as fast as you can the other way. I would never be able to live with myself if I injured you with the Kyuubi's chakra. Promise me," he insisted when Hinata did not say anything.

"If you are in danger, I won't. You say that you wouldn't be able to stand to see me hurt, how do you think I feel? I will do everything I can to stop you if I can."

Naruto leaned forward and cupped his face in his hands. "I figured as much. But then again, you wouldn't be the woman I love if you would do that." Hinata just smiled and hugged him from behind.

"I know. But I know that you can learn to control it, if you really try."

Naruto sighed again. "That is what Ero-sennin keeps telling me. I can only hope that he is right."


	22. The Mark

Chapter Twenty-two: The Mark

Tenten was slow to wake up the next morning. She was still in the hospital; the doctors had kept her for observation overnight, partly in retaliation for her slipping out of the stadium infirmary during the middle of the battle she was sure. The sun was well on its way to the noonday peak, bright beams of yellow light pouring in her window. As soon as she was awake enough to start processing sensory input, she detected the unmistakable scent of sesame dumplings, her favorite food. It was obvious that Naruto had been by earlier, but he was gone now. Opening the box, she discovered that there was a handwritten note inside. Unfolding the missive, she perused the page.

_My lovely Tenten-chan,_

_I suspect by the time that you wake and read this, I will be well on my way away from Konoha with Ero-sennin. He and I are going to look for some old lady named Tsunade to bring her back and get her to fix the Old Man up. Apparently, he was badly hurt by that son-of-a-bitch Orochimaru during the invasion, and she is the only one who has a chance of making him better. _

_I dropped by early this morning, but you were sleeping, and I didn't want to wake you. I dunno if the dumplings will still be good by the time you wake, but if they are, don't gorge yourself. You are almost as bad as Hinata is with cinnamon buns at times._

_Anyways, I am going to be gone for a while, maybe up to a month, depending on how long it takes us to find this hag. Ero-sennin says she used to be a teammate of his, so she has to be positively ancient by now. Can't be too many sixty-something-year-old ninja-medics about, so I hope this won't take long. In case it does, though, remember I love you and take it easy. I want to see you out of the hospital by the time I get back. Listen to the doctors and don't push yourself._

_Got to go. Ero-sennin is getting impatient, and wants to make it to Otafuku Gai by tonight, so I will end it here. See you when I get back._

_Love,_

_Naruto_.

Tenten read the letter through a second time before folding it up and putting it back on the nightstand. She helped herself to the dumplings, licking her fingers clean. Eventually a nurse came by to check up on her. After examining her wound, she was pronounced healthy enough to check out.

Konoha had suffered significant damage during the invasion, from the huge snake summon and from the invading ninja. Casualties had been minimal. Less than fifty Konoha shinobi had been slain and only about one hundred thirty civilians, mostly from collapsing buildings and secondary effects of combat, due in no small part to Naruto. As she dashed along the dirt roads, it seemed that every third or fourth building had been burned or damaged. The streets were only moderately packed, most civilians sifting through the wreckage and ninja were just getting into recovery mode.

Either way, she was able to make it back to her house in good time. Most of the buildings on her block had only received moderate damage, but it looked like this was one of the sectors of town where one of Naruto's hunter-killer teams had fought, judging by the blood spattered everywhere. Crews had already been though and recovered any bodies, but there were still telltale signs of a killing field. Arriving at her home, she stepped through the hole where the door usually was.

The damage was mostly superficial it seemed. The door was missing and the large windows to look inside the store had been shattered, some of the shelves inside had been damage, but other than that the store was in good condition. "Hello? Mom? Dad? Anyone here?" No one answered so she checked the rest of the place, but there was nobody home. She hadn't seen the casualty lists yet, but it didn't seem that anyone had been killed here. If her parents had been critically injured, she was sure that someone at the hospital would have notified her, so that left them either alive and healthy, and not at the store right now, or dead. She knew better than to try to see Hinata at her home, so that left Anko. Replenishing her supplies in her room, Tenten left a note for her parents in the register letting them know that she was alive and well, should they come home while she was out.

Anko's home was in the area that had suffered the most damage from the snake summon. Tenten stumbled to a halt when she reached the lot where the house had stood. It looked like a thirty-foot steamroller had passed through, which was exactly what had happened. Anko was sitting in the dirt in front of what was left of the porch, the concrete steps leading up to it about the largest piece of the house remaining.

"Hi Anko-sensei," Tenten said when she got within earshot.

"Afternoon Tenten-chan," Anko replied quietly. Tenten sat down on the steps next to Anko and said nothing. The pair remained like that for a few minutes.

When it seemed that Anko was satisfied to just sit silently, Tenten spoke again. "Are you okay? I didn't see you at the hospital."

"Nah, I broke my arm, and got a few scrapes, that's all. I barely even got to fight at all, thanks to Naruto. Damned brat made so many clones that I couldn't find anywhere he hadn't been, it seemed. Broke my arm when a building fell on me. Some moron set it on fire."

Now that she took a closer look, she saw a lump forming over one eyebrow and a number of superficial cuts decorating her arms and legs. Her hair seemed to be slightly shorter than before too. "How are you feeling? You don't look too great."

"I'm fine. Spent most of the night with recovery teams. Snakes can smell almost as well as dogs, you know."

"Gotten any sleep?"

"A couple of hours in the hospital lobby, 'fore they kicked me out 'coz they needed the room. Just been sitting here since then."

"Want help looking through the wreckage?"

Anko shook her head silently. "No, I can do it myself."

Leaning in close, Tenten put a hand on her shoulder. "Anko, are you okay?"

"Yes. No. Hell, I don't know." It wasn't until Anko's shoulders started shaking after putting her head down on her knees that Tenten realized that Anko was crying. Not really understanding why Anko was crying, Tenten hugged her from behind anyways.

Looking up, Anko started talking again. "You know that this was my first home? My parents both died when I was an infant, so I lived in the orphanage until I graduated from the Academy. After that I lived in an apartment in the Schoolyard. When I adopted Naruto, the Hokage bought me a house. I told him he didn't have to, that it was too much space, but he did it anyways. I never really understood why he did until Naruto started growing up. By the time he entered the Academy, I was glad that the Hokage had made me take the house. I dunno what I would have done if we had been living in an apartment. Probably would have been kicked out inside a week from the noise complaints." Wiping her eyes with the heels of her palms, she let out a self-depreciating laugh. "I don't know why I am letting this bother me so much. I haven't cried in years."

"Like you said, this was your home Anko, yours and Naruto's. It is okay to feel sad about it being destroyed."

"I guess." Pulling Anko up by the arm, Tenten and Anko began to sift through the debris.

OoOoO

The morning after he and Jiraiya left Konoha found Naruto sitting cross legged on his bed, resting his hands on his knees, palms up. After a moment, a blue ball of chakra swirled into being in his left hand. Moving his gaze to his right hand, he slowly and carefully started channeling chakra to his palm. When the chakra to become visible, he furrowed his brows in concentration, trying to keep the chakra under control. Just as he was about to add the third step, someone knocked on his door. He had locked it behind him, so he went to answer it. Figuring it was probably Jiraiya coming back from wherever he had gone or one of the women, he didn't bother to check the peephole before he opened it.

The figure blocking the doorway was most definitely not Jiraiya. In fact, with the three tomoe lazily circling his pupil in the red iris, the only possible person he could be was Itachi the Clan-killer. Given the massive bandaged-wrapped sword his partner held, he was accompanied by Hoshigaki Kisame, the Monster of the Mist.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you need to come with us."

The hypnotic swirl of Itachi's eyes prevented him from answering, and almost prevented him from defending himself.

_'Fast!' _Naruto thought as he parried a punch to his solar plexus. It was a damn good thing that he had trained his taijutsu to the point where it was instinctive, because he would have never been able to do anything otherwise. Jumping back from Itachi's follow-up, he rolled across the bed and retrieved his zanpakuto. He didn't draw it immediately when he saw that Itachi had not pursued him into the room.

"Good morning Sasuke-kun. It has been a while."

In the room, Naruto couldn't hear what Sasuke said in reply, but he recognized the blur that impacted Itachi as his former classmate, his right hand surrounded by a corona of electricity. Itachi quickly overpowered Sasuke, pinning him to the far wall and staring into his eyes.

Naruto had bigger problems though. The only good thing was that Kisame's was huge, so it was unlikely that he would be able to use his bandaged weapon.

Growling, Naruto started to tap the Kyuubi's chakra, but as it started to manifest outside his body, Kisame swung his wrapped sword in a diagonal slash, somehow dispersing his chakra. "Heh, by the way, my Samehada here eats chakra. And it is hungry, so please keep doing that."

Awkwardly swinging his blade at Naruto again, Naruto could barely get Kitsune into a position to block. But all of a sudden, a large toad appeared in a burst of smoke, crossed arms stopping Samehada completely. "As I thought," a voice said. "It would seem that you guys really are after Naruto." Still trying to shake the shock of having the Kyuubi's chakra so easily countered, Naruto looked at Jiraiya.

_'After me?' _he thought.

"Yes," Itachi replied smoothly, stepping back through the hole he had created. "We were ordered by the upper echelons of the organization, Akatsuki, to take Naruto-kun. He is the container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, and is very important for our plans."

"Well, that is unfortunate, as you two will die here, by my hand before you get to touch him. Summoning: Toad Mouth Bind! See, the thing is that you are already in my stomach." Jiraiya grinned as the two missing-nin found that the floor had entrapped their feet, rendering them immobile. Ripping their feet out of the floor nonetheless, the two ninja dashed around the corner, immediately retreating. Jiraiya scowled as he saw that one of them had somehow burned a hole in the wall, despite the fact that Iwayado was supposed to be fireproof. Examining the obsidian flames more closely, he sealed them into a scroll to study later. Any kind of fire that could burn a hole through Iwayado was definitely worth looking into.

Stamping a foot on the floor when he got back to Naruto's room, he reverted everything back to normal. "Everyone alright?"

"More or less," Naruto replied. "Did you get him?"

"Nah, he got away."

Shaking his head, Naruto went to check on Sasuke. Physically, he was fine. Some bruises, maybe a cracked rib was all he suffered, but his eyes were out of focus and he did not respond to anything Naruto did or said. His attention was called back to where Jiraiya was when he was knocked off his feet by a green blur. It turned out that Gai had followed Sasuke, and leaped before he looked so to speak. After a minute of chatter, Gai lifted the comatose Sasuke and headed back to Konoha.

"I think we should follow his example, let us get out of here before anyone come up to see what is going on." The pair quickly gathered their belongings and slipped out of the hotel without signing out. But as Naruto stepped into the hallway, he saw Jiraiya slip a large purse of money into one of the drawers in the nightstand.

Casually strolling along the street, nobody said anything about what had happened in the hotel. Jiraiya kept glancing down at Naruto, who was walking like a man about to do murder, wondering when Naruto would say something. It wasn't long.

"As soon as we find some place to stay tonight, I'm going after him. I got a score to settle with him, and I intend to take care of it."

"And how do you plan on doing that? Do you have any idea where he went? Besides, Uchiha Itachi is an S-rank ninja.

"So? He is strong. So am I."

Jiraiya sighed. "Kid, strong doesn't even begin to cover it. S-rank ninja are not ordinary ninja. There are less than twenty S-rankers out of the hundreds of thousands of ninja in the world. The difference between an A-rank ninja and an S-rank ninja is the same as the difference between an A-rank ninja and a D-rank ninja. Us S-rank ninja are in a class all of our own, quite literally the strongest humans on the planet. Konoha only has three S-rankers, Me, Tsunade and the Hokage. In most ways, it is easier to become a Kage than to gain an S-ranking. Plainly put, if you were to go after him as you are right now, he would kill you out of hand."

"Then I need to become an S-rank ninja also. That guy... His type always gets away with anything they want. I have to become powerful enough to fight people like him."

"Easier said than done, brat. S-rank ninja aren't a dime-a-dozen. As I just said, they are quite literally the most dangerous people on the planet. You do not go up against one of them without an S-ranker yourself, or a hell lot of preparation. There are Kages that aren't as strong as these guys out there. And before you go getting ideas, it takes decades in most cases to achieve S-ranking, and it is quite possible that you never will. Other than Itachi, whom you just met, and a guy out of Iwa by the name of Deidara, there isn't a single S-ranking ninja under the age of thirty. So do not think that you will be able to face off against that guy anytime soon."

"Can you train me to become strong enough to handle that bastard?"

"I can try, but a lot of it will depend solely on you."

"I can handle whatever you can throw at me."

"Heh. So you may think." Jiraiya put one hand to his chin in a thoughtful manner for a few seconds. "Naruto, how would you like to become my apprentice?"

"What do you mean? I thought I was your apprentice already."

"No, not really. I have been teaching you stuff off and on for the last couple of months, but I have never accepted you as my apprentice."

"What about all that stuff you have been teaching me? Sealing and the Rasengan?"

"I have only taught you stuff that was not proprietary, so to speak. There are far too few sealing adepts out there in the world, so giving it one more is a good thing. And the Rasengan was your father's technique, and is rightfully part of your inheritance. Other than that, have I taught you any of my ninjutsu?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment. "No, but I always assumed that you either didn't see the need or were too busy."

"The only things I have passed on to up until now were techniques that were never mine. But if you accept my apprenticeship, I will teach you everything I know. That includes the Toad Summoning Contract, unless you have already signed your mother's snake contract."

"No, she wanted to wait to see if you would ever offer to let me sign the Toad Contract."

"Smart woman. I don't mean to say that the snakes are weak, because they are far from it, but the toads have some very, very powerful techniques and are a little more combat-oriented, which makes them slightly more useful. Anyways, back on topic. If I do take you as my apprentice, you will become my heir, and that means taking up my responsibilities as a sage when I pass on. I am an initiate in close to two dozen religions, and you will be too when your training is complete. You will not like some of the stuff that you will have to learn, but you will learn it. If, at any point, you refuse, then I will dismiss you as my apprentice at once. I will have to know that you will obey me absolutely. There are things too dangerous for me to teach you without such an assurance. Can you give me your word on that?"

"Yes, I swear that I will obey you absolutely and unconditionally, on pain of death."

"Good, I will hold you to that," Jiraiya replied solemnly.

Stepping into an empty alleyway, he summoned a red toad with black flame markings on its head and back, the strange toad spat a scroll at Naruto. Unrolling the scroll, he saw five names written in blood, as well as a hand print under each one. Looking up at Jiraiya, he hesitated. Jiraiya scowled immediately at Naruto's wavering. "Sign the contract now Naruto. If you cannot do even this, then I have been wasting my time."

Hurriedly waving his hands, he spoke quickly. "Ah, no that isn't it. I was just wondering which name I should use, my birth name or my married one."

"Oh, okay, that is a good question. Use your birth name. There are reasons behind this, which I do not have the time to explain and you do not have the knowledge to understand the answers."

He bit his index finger and scrawled his name with his bloody finger, and then pressed his handprint onto the paper under his name. Sitting back on his haunches, the toad that Jiraiya had summoned slurped the scroll back up and desummoned.

"Hey, Ero-sennin, can Hinata and Tenten sign the contract too?"

"No. The toad are extremely selective on who they will allow to summon them. There can only be two summoners at the same time."

"How come?"

"Dunno. I was told to never allow more than two people to hold the Contract at the same time, and I have respected their command. As you will, if you ever inherit the Contract. Anyways, there is a little time before we should go to sleep, so let's find a new hotel and I can begin your apprenticeship.

OoOoO

Later that night, Jiraiya and Naruto sat on Naruto's bed in his room. "Before we left Konoha, you came to me and asked me to seal the Kyuubi away permanently. I refused, and told you that I would teach you to control it. But before I can start, there are some things I must tell you first.

"The first thing you must learn is the origin of the Tailed Beasts. There are dozens of theories pertaining to their origin because no one really knows. Some believe that they are gods, or demons, come to test us. Others say that the Sage of the Six Paths created them. The theory that the sages subscribe to is that they are the product of humanity. They are the physical manifestation of the negative emotions we experience. Each one of the Nine embodies one of the nine cardinal sins, and often have powers tied into their nature. The Nine are as follows: the One-Tail is envy; the Two-Tails is greed; the Three-Tails is lust; the Four-Tails is gluttony, the Five-Tails is avarice, the Six-Tails is sloth, the Seven-Tails is fear; the Eight-Tails is pride. And as you are well aware, the Kyuubi is wrath, or hate depending on who you ask

"The Kyuubi's power is of two parts: its chakra and its will. Whenever you draw on the Kyuubi's chakra, you also pull on its will. Its will is nothing more than one huge mass of rage. As the Nine are the physical representations of our baser emotions, they are simultaneously far more powerful than any human could ever hope of becoming, and weaker than the newest genin. Because they can only ever experience a single emotion, which can give them an unparalleled drive, a single-minded determination dwarfing anything a human could have. At the same time, that determination comes at the expense of creativity. For example, while the Kyuubi had power enough to topple mountains, it could have never contemplated that a human could seal it away. Always remember that, no matter how powerful the Kyuubi may seem you are always greater than it, in mind and heart.

In any case, when you draw on its chakra it will use any hate you have hidden in your heart to latch on to the chakra that you are pulling into you and try to overwhelm you and take control. The only way to gain complete control over the Kyuubi is to deny it the ability to 'hitch a ride,' so to speak, into your heart, and to do that you must rid yourself of any hatred you hold, to anyone, or anything."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"You can't. At least, not right now. There are a few places in the world where it is possible to face your inner self, the Falls of Truth in Lightning Country and Waterfall Country, the Cave of Sin in Earth Country and the Devil's Oasis in the Wind Country. Right now, all of them except for the Falls of Truth in the Waterfall Country are inaccessible to us because of the relations between our countries. As we cannot go to any of these locations, I want you to meditate."

"Meditate! You have got to be kidding me."

"I am not. I want you to mediate, try to center yourself, and keep yourself there, all the time. You have to learn to control your emotions, in every kind of situation. I want you to use a particular mantra while meditating:

There is no emotion, there is peace.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

There is no chaos, there is harmony.

There is no death, there is the Force."

"The Force? What is that?"

"There is an order of warrior-monks called the Jedi in the Demon Country where they believe that there is an energy that connects all living things to one another. It is not a religion, precisely, but more of a philosophy. They call it the Force, and can do some pretty interesting things with it. That mantra is called the Jedi Code, and is the core set of rules that govern all Jedi. Normally, the way of the Jedi would not be well suited for a shinobi, because they are protectors, both spiritual and physical. They see their role in this world as guardians of good, which is, for a shinobi, utterly laughable. One of the principles they teach is mastery of passion with reason and knowledge. They do not eschew emotion entirely, because the only people who do not feel emotion are those that are dead, but having the ability to control it. Given your situation, in this case, their philosophy is pretty well suited to your needs."

"You said that they use this Force. Can you use it, or teach me to?"

"No, only certain people are born with the ability to use the Force. There were only about a dozen disciples when I was last there, as they do not find many people who are Force-sensitive. If you want, I can teach you more about their beliefs if you want later. But for now I want you to meditate using that mantra. Whenever you find yourself growing agitated, calm yourself by reciting it. Begin now while I explain it line by line."

Naruto nodded and folded his hands in his lap, closed his eyes and began reciting the Code mentally. His breathing evened out and he slowly relaxed, until he had let all his limbs go limp. Jiraiya nodded to himself when his student had centered himself.

"_There is no emotion, there is peace._ Emotions are a part of living. This tenet does not say that emotion does not exist but that it ought to be set aside. You must understand your emotions before they can be moved past. Unless you can confront your thoughts and feelings, you will never achieve peace. This is critical for you, because if you cannot learn to understand and move past them, you will never gain the control you seek.

"_There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. _You must be circumspect and try to understand the world that surrounds you. Ignorance exists: anything else is a flat-out lie or gross misunderstanding. Simply ignoring facts that do not fit with your viewpoint is stupid and dangerous. Ignorance is a part of life but it is not to be feared. This tenet also reminds you that knowledge can be taken from the most unusual places and that you must keep your mind open and be willing to accept what you otherwise might see as unacceptable. Essentially, it means that you must use rational mind and your intuitive mind in order to find the truth, even if the truth is something that you might find distasteful, or against what you believe.

"_There is no passion, there is serenity. _The third tenet is not just a repeat of the first. It refers to situations of extreme stress in which you might be tempted to react strongly, or be so focused on the task to the exclusion of everything else, including the goal. You must always act with a calm hand and an even temper. "When in doubt, stay your hand", study each situation with a clear mind and reasoned thought, not with a mind filled with passion. Uncontrolled passion is more dangerous to you than any jutsu, so you have to be able to sort what is true from what is not.

"_There is no chaos, there is harmony. _This tenet is a little more esoteric, in that this statement reflects the one of the principle beliefs of the Jedi Order. The Jedi sees connections in everything, interdependence in everything. Everything exists in balance. Every event has purpose; nothing is irrelevant, including death. Tragedy happens; it is only with the realization that tragedy is another part of life can you find a balanced and realistic view of the world. You must understand that nothing happens without a reason, and in understanding that reason will you be able to exert control on your surroundings.

"_There is no death, there is the Force._ This is the most basic of all Jedi beliefs, the core of their Order. The Jedi believe that everything exists in duality, that death is a necessary component of the cycle of life. You must not fear death, but be ready for it at all times. You cannot be ruled or obsessed by it. It is easy to fall and fail, but you must be able to rise up again without distraction and move past it. Death is inevitable, but it is not final. As long as there are people who remain behind when you die, you will never cease to be completely. Another of their sayings is that fear leads to anger, and anger leads to hate, all three emotions that are exceptionally dangerous to you."

Jiraiya could tell that his student had been listening to him while he had been speaking because his expression changed from careful neutrality to one of serious meditation. Jiraiya had been using the Jedi Code himself for decades and helped him focus himself before battle. The Jedi were an ancient order, and there was some evidence that they preceded the formation of the Elemental Countries, or at least the samurai. The samurai used a boiled-down code that was almost identical to the Jedi Code. It went as follows:

Emotion, yet peace.  
Ignorance, yet knowledge.  
Passion, yet serenity.  
Chaos, yet harmony.  
Death, yet duty.

They had replaced belief in the Force with belief in duty, but the rest was the same. Carefully slipping off the bed, Jiraiya slipped Naruto's wallet into his pocket and left to continue the hunt for his former teammate, leaving Naruto to his thoughts.

Contrary to what Naruto thought, he did not visit bars and brothels purely for pleasure. Men let slip information they did not intend to, and told secrets they were not supposed to know to other drunkards and sexual partners. The next few days progressed in the same manner, traveling from town to town, following rumors of Tsunade's travels. It was difficult to be sure exactly where she had been because of her habit of altering her age and appearance on a regular basis, but Jiraiya thought that they were closing in on her.

Finally, ten days after he and Naruto had set out after Tsunade, they entered Tanzaku Gai. The owner of a casino in the previous town had ended up chasing a Tsunade who appeared to be in her early thirties out and he had heard her shouting to her companion how Tanzaku Gai should be a mite friendlier than that town had been. The fact that there was a semi-annual festival being held supported the notion, although to be fair, there was usually some kind of festival being held.

It was early evening by the time they arrived and Naruto was hungry. Naruto had been doing well with his mediation, quickly memorizing the Code and reciting it often to focus himself. Right now, the most dangerous thing to Naruto was uncontrolled emotion, and he had been making real headway on gaining a handle on his emotions. The real test would come when Naruto and Tsunade first met, as the pair was guaranteed to clash. Naruto could keep calm when he knew he was under scrutiny, but the real test would come when someone pushed his buttons for real.

Master and apprentice stepped into a pub as the sun was starting to sink below the rooftops. Jiraiya paused for a second, making sure that he was actually seeing Tsunade. "Tsunade-hime! Long time no see!"

The moment Tsunade saw him her head dropped into her arms. "Go away Jiraiya," Tsunade muttered from behind her arms as Jiraiya slid into the booth after Naruto.

"Aw, is that how you greet an old teammate after years of separation?"

"Jiraiya..." Tsunade growled. "I really do not want to have to put up with your crap right now. So spit out whatever you have to say and get the hell away from me."

Letting the easy smile slide from his face, Jiraiya locked his fingers together and leaned on his elbows. "I don't know if you have heard, but Konoha was attacked recently, by Orochimaru's personal village and the Sand. Sensei has been seriously wounded and needs you to come heal him."

"I refuse. There are plenty of doctors in Konoha. Surely one of them can fix him up."

"No they can't. It seems that Orochimaru has found the Kusanagi somewhere and wounded Sensei with it."

"The Kusanagi? Is it authentic?"

"It would seem so. The poison that has infected Sensei is beyond anything our doctors have ever seen. We need you to come back to heal Sensei."

"Why would he want that? So that he can continue being Hokage? It is a crap job. He should be glad to be dying. Why the hell anyone would want to be the leader of that piece of shit town is more than I can fathom."

Tsunade took an unhealthy pull straight from the bottle of sake so she didn't immediately notice Jiraiya's hardening expression.

"You are obviously under the influence right now, so I am going to ignore what you just said. I know that you lost your nephew and fiancé, but you are the only one in the world that has a chance of healing Sensei. So you need to get your stuff and be ready to leave soon. No one is saying that you have to stay permanently, just long enough to fix out teacher, and then you can go."

"I swore that I would never set a foot inside that wretched place ever again. Find someone else to fix the old man."

Naruto curled his fists on the table and glared at Tsunade. "You have got to be shitting. Your teacher and Hokage are on the brink of death and you refuse to help him? I have heard you are many things, Senju Tsunade, but one thing I never thought you were traitor. I am glad that Tenten-chan was still stuck in the hospital when we left. She has always admired you, idolized you, but I can see now that you are nothing like the legendary ninja that she wants to be some day."

The dark haired woman sitting next to Tsunade was making covert motions trying to warn Naruto, but he ignored her. "Careful what you say brat. I may be a drunkard and a gambler, but I am ten times the ninja you are."

"I don't see a ninja here. All I see is a broken old woman, hiding behind a mask, unable to face the past, running away from ghosts."

"Brat," Tsunade growled, but was ignored by the blond boy.

"I am telling you that the Hokage need your help, and you are going to give it, one way or another."

Suddenly, Tsunade threw her head back and let out a raucous laugh. "Brat, if nothing else, you have balls. You know I think I am beginning to like you."

"Hyuuga Naruto."

Pulling her head down to look at Naruto she blinked in confusion. "What?"

"Hyuuga Naruto. That is my name. There is only two people allowed to call me brat, and you are neither of them."

Grinning drunkenly, she leaned forward. "Okay then Hyuuga Naruto. What makes you think that you can force a legendary ninja like me to do anything?"

"I can do it because you are a coward. I insult you to your face, yet you pretend that it is a joke and try to laugh it away."

Draining the bottle of rice wine in one long pull, Tsunade wiped her mouth on her arm and stood up. "Okay, Naruto-san. Since you seem to be so intent on a fight, you got yourself one. You and me, outside, right now."

Shizune tried to reason with her master, but the bond female ignored her. Jiraiya grabbed Naruto's arm as he passed, holding him back. "Naruto, do know what you are doing? It may not seem like it, but Tsunade is an S-rank shinobi, and extraordinarily skilled in close-range combat. It is not too late to apologize and back out."

"That hag has insulted the Hokage, the Hokageship, Konoha and Tenten. She has gotten her way for so long just by browbeating people into submission with her name. I am going to show her that there are some things that she cannot get away with." Jerking his arm out of Jiraiya's grip, he stalked after Tsunade.

"Naruto, remember your control."

"Don't worry Ero-sennin; I am one hundred percent under control."

Jiraiya got outside just in time to hear Tsunade announce the stakes. "One thing before we get started. What is it about the word 'Hokage' that gets you so riled up? It wasn't until I insulted the Hokage that you really got mad."

Letting an angry grin curl his lips he replied, "That is because it is my dream to become Hokage! And I refuse to allow anyone to badmouth the title!"

Tsunade involuntarily took a step back at Naruto's tone. The tone of his voice, his stance, even the look in his eyes, they were exactly the same as her dead nephew and fiancé when they talked about becoming Hokage. "D-don't joke around. There is no way a no-talent kid like you could ever hope to become Hokage."

Growling, Naruto charged a Rasengan in his right hand in an instant and charged Tsunade. Blinking in surprise, she struck the ground with a single finger, opening a fissure right in front of Naruto, causing him to lose his footing and drive his Rasengan harmlessly into the ground at her feet. He couldn't hear what Tsunade said to Jiraiya because of the ringing in his ears from the close-range detonation of his Rasengan, but when he did gain his feet, Tsunade was facing him again.

"Tell you what kid. I will give you one week. At the end of that week, I will fight you again. If you can get me to use more than one finger to beat you, I will give you this necklace and acknowledge you have the potential to become Hokage."

"Eh, that necklace looks kind of tacky."

"Don't knock it Naruto. That necklace is worth enough to buy three gold mines and the mountains on them. It is an heirloom from the Shodai Hokage, made of an incredibly rare and precious ore."

"Fine then. We'll meet back here in exactly one week." Holding out his palm he spat on it. Grinning, Tsunade did also and they shook.

When Shizune and Naruto had left, Jiraiya said, "You know, that probably wasn't a good idea."

"What wasn't a good idea?"

"Betting with Naruto. He is no ordinary genin. I would say that he is easily at chunin strength, hell, there are one or two jounin I can think of that he could a give a run for their money. You know he is the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, and he knows the Shadow Clone Technique, and can use it with incredible facility. His taijutsu is nothing to sneer at and he isn't too shabby with his sword either. Konoha was assaulted with the full strength of both Oto and Suna, and I would say that it isn't much of an exaggeration to say that if it wasn't for him, Orochimaru would have had a good shot at sacking Konoha. So I would be very careful, were I you, the next time you fight him." Tsunade was left blinking as Jiraiya waved goodbye and left.

Jiraiya stuck his hands in his pockets and whistled tunelessly while he wondered what Naruto would come up with to fight Tsunade with. He had taken a serious disliking to the woman, so he had no doubt that it would be impressive. In fact, he became even surer of the fact when the boy insisted that he train privately, adamant that he keep whatever he was working on secret until he could reveal it for the first time against Tsunade. Given what he had seen of the kid so far, he was sure it would be a good one. Naruto had many faults, but tactical idiocy and rigid thinking were not among them. Jiraiya would be very surprised if another ten years passed and Naruto was not Hokage.

The kid was a tactical genius and used ninjutsu in ways that boggled the mind. His affinity for the Shadow Clone Technique was quite frankly scary. Suffice to say, he was looking forward to see what Naruto would come up with.

OoOoO

Seven days after Tsunade issued her challenge to Naruto, Naruto and Jiraiya were waiting outside the pub that they had found her in. There were a few pedestrians out, but all kept as far away from the blond boy as they could. The way he was clenching his fist, no one wanted to get within reach. Finally, Tsunade and her black-haired apprentice Shizune showed up.

"Once chance to apologize, granny, before we do this."

"Yeah right. Remember, all you have to do is get me to use more than one finger and you win." Naruto didn't reply, simply cracking his knuckles. Tsunade blinked in surprise when she realized that he was fighting to do serious injury. Apparently, she had pissed him off even more than she had thought.

Naruto displayed considerable mastery over the Rasengan, as well as other techniques. Naruto seemed to operate his clones in teams. Half a dozen jack rabbited about with a Rasengan in one hand, trying to catch her with one. A second team tried to keep her off balance with well placed, low-powered Pressure Bullets. And the little turd was fast, especially after he donned a black and white outfit. All in all, he was far more skilled than she had thought initially.

Even fighting seriously as he was, she was able to easily keep out his reach. His height and arm length had him at a serious disadvantage, but he was able to compensate somewhat by using the Shadow Clone Technique. It was obvious that he excelled in fighting at close quarters, inside his opponents guard, so she kept out of his range, using her height to her advantage. If he was able to get close in to where he could use his fists to maximum effectiveness, she could face some actual danger.

But Jiraiya had not been exaggerating when he said that the boy was easily at chunin fighting strength. He played to his strengths, fighting low, not over extending on his attacks and waiting for her to slip up before he made his move. It was a smart way to fight, especially against an opponent bigger and more skilled than he was, but it would not win him the fight. Grinning, Tsunade decided to show him why she was one of the Three.

Forcing him back, she waited for him to leap forward again, before she poked the ground, causing a large fissure to open up, like she did last time. Naruto had learned from his last fight with her though, and dodged it easily.

Standing straight, she put her hands on her hips; she faced the black-clad boy. "I will admit that you have some skill, but you are nowhere near my level. Give it up now before I embarrass you."

"Not a chance granny. I have spent the last week working, developing a new technique. I didn't want to use it off the bat, but I see that I am going to have to now."

"Really, a teenage brat like you has invented a jutsu in a single week? This I gotta see." On the sidelines, Jiraiya leaned forward, wondering what Naruto was going to pull out of his sleeve.

Closing his eyes, Tsunade cocked her head when the black-and-white clothes dissolved, floating up and away. He sheathed his blade, forming a Rasengan in one hand.

"Yeah, you already showed that you can use the Rasengan, but…" Tsunade left her sentence incomplete as Naruto charged.

"Uzumaki Secret Technique: Typhoon Palm!" Tsunade backpedaled when Naruto jumped forward, the chakra being channeled into the sphere in his palm suddenly shooting forward, a hurricane in miniature extending from his palm and reaching straight for her. To her experienced eye, she could tell that it wasn't elemental manipulation. The only thing she could think of was that he had somehow managed to unleash the hurricane compressed into a sphere that was the normal Rasengan, and channel it into a lance. Tsunade leaped over his viperously fast thrust and drove him into the ground by planting one hand on the crown of his head and vaulting over him.

His hand drove into the ground like a hot knife through butter, burying itself to Naruto's elbow, throwing up a plume of dirt that obscured the view of the battle momentarily.

On the sidelines, Shizune turned to Jiraiya. "Did he just do what I think he did?"

"If you think he managed to half-ass a Rasengan, and not have it blow up in his face, then yes he did." There were times that Jiraiya sincerely regretted not getting himself involved with Naruto sooner. This was one of those times. Only Naruto would be able to take a technique that involved shape manipulation so complex that it took most years to master, and alter it so radically in a single week. A sphere was the easiest shape to mold chakra into, one reason why the Rasengan was a sphere. Channeling the Rasengan into an lance like that involved a level of chakra control that frankly boggled the mind.

Jiraiya knew that Naruto's control was certainly above average, mastery of the Rasengan proved that, but his Typhoon Palm was on a whole other level. Jiraiya doubted that he himself could do it.

Extricating himself from the hole, Naruto was smiling. "I win." Tsunade quirked an eyebrow at him before she realized what he meant.

"Sonuvabitch."

"You got your things packed Tsunade-hime?"

His former teammate sent him a glare, but nodded. "I hadn't quite planned on leaving with you, but I wasn't intending to stick around here much longer."

"It is still early in the day. We could make it a good distance yet."

"I see you aren't going to give me the chance to run off."

"Nope. You agreed to come with us, and I am going to make sure you do."

"Yeah yeah. I promise I will not try to give you the slip either. I made a promise, and I will honor it. Just let me get my stuff from my hotel and we can leave. Besides, this kid has proven to be quite interesting. He beat me fair and square, so I might as well tag along so I can see this Tenten-chan of his. If she is half as good as he is, they should make quite a pair."

"Trio. The kid is married to the Hyuuga heiress, of all people. Tenten is his girlfriend."

That got both Tsunade's and Shizune's attention. "They know he is two-timing them?"

"Oh yes, they do. The way I hear it, the whole thing was his wife's idea."

"Really? Interesting." Maybe spending a little time in Konoha wouldn't be as onerous as she thought.


	23. Of Seals and Vows

Chapter Twenty-three: Of Seals and Vows

"Naruto!" Tsunade called. Naruto, who was walking a just in front of her, turned around to face her. Ducking her head, Tsunade pulled the cord holding her grandfather's necklace over her head and held it up for Naruto's inspection. "You and I had a bet, and you won, fair and square. So here it is." Naruto ducked his head and let Tsunade put it on. Picking the dark green gem up from against his chest, he studied it for a few seconds, before letting it drop back down.

"I still say it is tacky." Tsunade just rolled her eyes and walked on.

Tsunade had already packed most of her possessions, so it was mostly an issue of collecting her bags and signing out. Jiraiya and Naruto did the same at their hotel; everyone double checked their luggage and headed out.

Jiraiya set a hard pace on the way back to Konoha, with good reason. It had been exactly twenty days since Jiraiya and Naruto had set out to find Tsunade, and they had made it back in a day and a half, traveling from before dawn to after dusk, subsisting on what they eat on foot.

The three ninja dropped out of the canopy half a mile out from Konoha and slowed as they came within sight of the guardhouse. Ninja were a suspicious and untrusting lot, by and large, and dashing straight up to the gate was not the best way to gain entrance quickly. Once the guards had gotten over the shock of Tsunade's presence, everyone's passport was stamped, and the group went directly to the hospital. As they passed by the residential district, Naruto created a pair of clones who peeled off and went in different directions. Again, Tsunade's presence caused a stir, and she wasn't where she had to knock heads, but she did clap her hands loudly enough to make ears ring before anyone would do more than run around like chickens with their heads cut off.

Once she had gotten the hospital staff's cooperation, she was quickly directed to the ward where the Hokage was being kept. He was lying on a bed, in a hospital gown, unconscious. He was hooked up to an EEG and EKG of course, and an IV drip. His other arm had a dialysis machine plugged in, constantly purifying his blood of the Kusanagi's poison.

The problem with the poison was that it was not actually a poison. Any normal poison would have been filtered out of Sarutobi's blood within hours by the dialysis machine. But the poison acted more like a biological agent, self-replicating and self-sustaining. The dialysis machine was able to filter his blood quickly enough to prevent further toxification of his blood, but unable to detoxify his blood at a rate that would bring him to healthy levels at a workable pace. Relying on dialysis alone would take years to bring the level of toxification down where it would be safe to wake him up.

Sarutobi had placed himself in a hibernation trance as soon as Orochimaru had fled, lowering his metabolism, heart rate and breathing to a virtual standstill, apparently dead to every human sense, only the electronic monitoring able to detect signs of life.

Doctors had attempted to remove the virus, because that was what the poison acted most like, with antivirals and various medical techniques, but the poison was so complex that they couldn't. The virus was so tiny, the virus particles, or virons, were hardly larger than the red blood cells and quite a bit smaller than the lymphocytes. In short, there was nothing the doctors could do.

But Tsunade was far beyond the skill of even Konoha's most talented medics and doctors. Hell, she had pioneered the field and was the most talented healer in the world. Nevertheless, even Tsunade was stymied initially. She was able to detect something that had eluded the others though. One question about the virus was how it was replicating itself. Knowledge of viruses was not new, and while it was known how they replicated themselves, by altering the body's cells to create more virons, this particular virus did something never seen before; it infected the immune system itself.

The worst part about the virus was that it evolved at a terrifying rate, altering itself so that any antivirals given to the Hokage were ineffective within three generations. Eventually, while trying to identify how the virus was mutating, the doctors had noted the Hokage's depressed levels of white blood cells, but had not been able to do anything about it. If this virus did not kill him, then there was a strong possibility that a secondary infection could.

Jiraiya and Naruto were watching Tsunade work from across the room, silent to not break her concentration. There was a crowd of medics surrounding Tsunade, so the pair could not see much, but every other minute or so, one of the doctors would whisper something to Tsunade and she would either shake her head or nod. What little Naruto could hear was so filled with medical jargon it was incomprehensible. An hour into her diagnosis, Tsunade stood up. Knuckling her back, she passed through the crowd to approach Jiraiya.

"How is he?"

"Frankly, I am not entirely sure how he is alive, but that is an unrelated issue. I think I can remove the poison, but we have to move quickly. This poison is self-altering, and does so very quickly. I think I have come up with a way to destroy it, but I need your help. I need you to prepare a room with a total containment seal."

"That is going to take a while. It is going to take me until tomorrow at least."

"Alright then. Get to work as soon as possible."

"Tsunade-sama, there are some other cases we would like you to take a look at."

"I need to prepare for the procedure tomorrow, but I can spend a few hours here at least. Take Shizune as well. She is almost as capable as I am, and she can help you out as long as she wishes."

Tsunade, Shizune and the rest of the staff filtered out of the room quickly, splitting up, half the doctors going with Tsunade and half with Shizune. Jiraiya thumped his head against the wall and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds. Exhaling noisily, he rocked away from the wall. "C'mon Naruto. We are going to be up most of the night, so let's go get some food before we start. When we do, we will not be able to stop until we finish.

Naruto followed his master out of the hospital and down the dusty streets until they arrived at Ichiraku's. "You know, for once I was not going to suggest that we go here. I would have been fine somewhere else."

"Really? That is unusual for you. But I wanted to come here. I am not quite as obsessed with ramen as you are, but it is good to have every so often."

"I am not obsessed with ramen."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

"Do you to want to order, or should I wait until Jiraiya concedes defeat."

"Who says I would ever lose this runt Ayame-san?"

"Because as stubborn as you are Jiraiya-sama, Naruto's head has to be at least twice as thick as yours."

"Hey, that isn't true Ayame-chan!"

Ayame declined to answer, stifling her giggle with a hand. "So do you know what you want yet?" They did, and Ayame went back to the stove to prepare their orders. She returned a few minutes later with their food. The pair dug in and finished their meal off quickly and headed back to the hospital. Asking the nurse at the front desk, he was directed to one of the unused operating rooms to set up. They took the stairs to the third floor, where the room was. The room was tiled, and almost painfully bright at first, the fluorescent lights reflecting off the white tile to create a bright, almost directionless illumination. Slinging a scroll off his back, Jiraiya unsealed a pair of large brushes and huge pot of ink.

"What we are going to be inscribing today is what is called a total containment seal. Once activated, it will seal the target area off from all outside influences. This is going to be the most complex seal you are going to be doing for a while, so be sure to pay careful attention to what I tell you to do, and do _not _screw anything up." Naruto nodded solemnly.

Naruto quickly agreed that Jiraiya was completely right about its complexity. The total containment seal was not a single seal, but a series of concentric seals designed to create barriers to prevent anything from crossing.

This primary seal was designed to prevent any sentient life form, like people, from crossing. It started with a circle that encompassed the entire room, with over three thousand sub-seals to create the overseal. The next seal prevented any non-sentient life forms, such as bacteria and germs, from crossing. This one was only slightly less complex than the first, as it only had to filter anything that passed the first seal. The third prevented any non-living objects from passing through. This caught anything that wasn't caught by the first two seals, such as dust particulates and the like. The fourth seal was a mental barrier, preventing any kind of psychic intrusions.

"Psychic intrusions?"

"Boy, trust me when I say that us ninja are only one of many orders and organizations with superhuman abilities. I have told you of the Jedi of the Demon Country, but there are many other groups out there, some with abilities that make what we can do seem like parlor tricks. For the most part, we vastly outnumber anyone else, mostly because anyone can learn to use chakra, which is rarely the case with other abilities. Hell, there are people out there that can do the most amazing things with nothing but pure belief.

"Seriously? Like in a religion?"

"Usually, but not always. Anyways, take my word when I say that ninja are not at the top of the food chain, so to speak."

Jiraiya tuned back to his work, instructing Naruto to do the same. The pair worked through the night, preparing it to Tsunade's specifications. Stepping carefully so they didn't smudge any of the ink, the pair of sealing adepts left the room. Jiraiya pulled a passing nurse to go and tell Tsunade was ready.

She appeared escorting the Hokage ten minutes later, again surrounded by a swarm of doctors. It took Naruto a few seconds to see them, but both Tenten and Hinata were there also. "Hey, what are you two doing here?"

"Your clone said that you were stuck here at the hospital, but we couldn't get in to see you. Jiraiya had left instructions for you not to be disturbed."

"We slipped in behind everyone else. Once we were in the restricted areas, everyone just assumed we were supposed to be there, so…"

"Heh. Surprising how blind people can be."

"How are you feeling though?"

"Been up all night Hinata-chan. But okay, aside from the exhaustion. What have you guys been up to while I was away?"

"Cleanup mostly. The business district was not hit that hard, so we got off with mostly superficial damage. Broken windows, the front door, which was about it."

"Invaders never made it anywhere near the Clan District. The Complex was untouched. Most of the damage was in the administration district, around the Hokage's Tower and government buildings. But I want to speak to you in private later. There is something at home I want to show you."

A questioning look on his face, Naruto nevertheless let it pass for the moment. If Hinata did not want to discuss whatever was going on in public, he wouldn't press her. Letting Tenten pull him to his feet, everyone moved out to the waiting room when security finally realized that they actually weren't health professionals. Jiraiya immediately plonked down on one of the faux-leather couches and passed out. Naruto did a reasonable imitation, his arms curled around both Tenten and Hinata's shoulders.

The trio remained that way for several hours. Eventually, sometime just past noon, Naruto was shaken awake. Looking around blearily, Naruto rubbed the mucus out of his eyes and focused on Tsunade. She was dressed in unflattering green scrubs, hair tied up and away from her face, looking somewhat drained.

"It worked. The Hokage is in post-op, and barring any infection, he should make a full recovery."

Naruto leaped to his feet immediately, followed by everyone else in the room, except for Jiraiya. He was still asleep. Tsunade waved their congratulations off, as "he is not out of the woods yet. He is still unconscious and weak. The Kusanagi virus took a serious toll on his health, and he will need care for a while yet. But the worst is over."

Tsunade lumbered over to a chair and collapsed into it. Leaning back and closing her eyes, she tried to give every signal for people to leave her alone for a few minutes, but it was not to be. Cracking an eye open, she saw Naruto standing over her, with two girls who were presumably Higurashi Tenten and Hyuuga Hinata.

"Yes?" she croaked.

The brunette stepped forward, bashful and clearly in the throes of a serious bout of hero worship. She wasn't digging her toes into the ground, but it was close. "Um… Tsunade-sama, I know that this is probably not the best time, but my name is Higurashi-"

"-Tenten," Tsunade interrupted. "Yes, I know quite a bit about you from Naruto. From what he has told me, you have wanted to meet me for a while now."

"Yeah. I mean, you were my role model when I was in the Academy, and after I graduated too. You are the epitome of what it means to be a kunoichi, and if I can be half the woman you are-"

Tsunade cut the young woman off again with a wave of the hand. "Higurashi-san, I appreciate the compliments, but I am tired. Is there anything in particular you wanted right now?"

"Um… no, not really. I just wanted to introduce myself."

"Alright, how about this. Leave your number with Shizune, and I will call you, when my hands are not burning from molding too much chakra, and you and I can talk, maybe over lunch or something. Give you an autograph, or whatever else you want. Sound good?"

"Oh yes! Yes, yes it does! Let me find a pen and I can give you my number right now. Actually, I do not live that far away, and- mmph!"

"Hey Granny, nice seeing you again, good job with the Hokage, see you later, bye!" Naruto had locked an arm around Tenten and a hand over her mouth and dragged the young woman out of the hospital by main force. Tenten tried to struggle free, but Naruto's arms were iron bands holding her against his chest as he hauled her out. Once outside, the blond let her go.

"You okay now? No more gushing?"

"I was not gushing!"

"Tenten-chan, I have never seen you get that excited about anything before. You were gushing. The pair argued like that while the group strolled down the street, a Naruto for each one. Hinata parted ways with Tenten with her Naruto quickly, eager to get home for once.

Hinata gave quick and curt greetings to those they passed, which was slightly unusual for her. Hinata no longer felt the need to be overly polite to everyone she met, but she was still courteous to all she met, and rarely brushed anyone off. Today however, she clearly had a destination in mind, and wanted to get there quickly.

The destination was a fairly large room with a very complex seal inscribed into the floor. The seal was about thirty feet across, with a ten foot area in the center, presumably for someone to sit or stand. Naruto halted a pace in and stared.

"Hinata, this has to be one of the most complex seals I have ever seen, and that include the seal that I spent all of last night on. I see sigils for the spirit, for the mind, for the body, the soul. I see every single symbol required to contain a creature of considerable power, both physical and spiritual. What is this for?"

"Me." Naruto shifted his gaze to her, uncomprehending. "Remember back in the second exam? How my inner Hollow began to take over? Well, I have been speaking to Urahara-sensei, and he says that I have become something that has been entirely theoretical until now, something he calls a Vizard; a being that is not wholly Shinigami, nor wholly Hollow. He says that my inner Hollow is only going to become more and more dominant as time goes on. To prevent that, I have been training to control it. I have to go into my inner world to do it, and that allows my inner Hollow full control. The Hyuuga sealing masters created this to contain me."

"Hinata-chan, I am pretty good with seals, but this is way beyond me. This has to be the strongest barrier I've ever seen. You would have to have a dedicated demolitions team to break through it."

"That is kind of the point. You saw how I was when it was partially in control. Letting my inner Hollow unfettered access to my body, I just do not want to take any risks."

"Well, at first glance, this would certainly do it. And you could definitely call a Hollow a spiritual being." Naruto continued surveying the seal as he spoke, and only got more impressed as he examined it.

"The seal masters took two weeks to develop it, and that was putting a rush on it."

"Two weeks, no kidding. If it had been me working on it, I would have asked for twice that. Does it work?"

"Yes."

"I hope you gave it a test run before trying it for real. You _did _test it before you let your inner Hollow take over right?" Hinata did not answer and averted her eyes. "You dove in head first, without even seeing if it could contain you?"

"It works," Hinata mumbled. "The masters said that the Hollow-me wasn't even able to make a dent in it."

Naruto grimaced and shook his head. "Please tell me that Urahara-sensei was here to supervise."

"He was."

"Well, that is one thing you did right at least. But still… ah what the hell. It worked in the end. I'm not going to get angry at you for doing something stupendously stupidly risky as long as you weren't hurt. The results are all that matter, and it works. Just don't do anything like that again, okay?"

Hinata nodded, smiling with relief that Naruto had not gotten angry with her. "I can maintain my Hollow mask for almost a full minute before I lose control now."

"What did you start at?"

"Forty-five seconds."

"So that is like a thirty percent increase? Impressive."

"Not really. Once it breaks, I have to wait for several hours before I can use it again. Using it is tiring, because I have to completely subjugate my inner Hollow to use the mask, and I just am not strong enough to maintain it for a useful amount of time."

"Sixty seconds is a long time in a fight."

"Yeah, but I have to split my attention the entire time, focus on controlling my inner Hollow and fighting. I can't use any ninjutsu or Jyuuken while I have my mask on either. Pretty much the only advantages it offers me is increased speed, physical strength and intuition. I get like a sixth sense, almost like I can tell what my opponent is going to do before he does it. It doesn't work like the Sharingan, I can only tell what my opponent might do, but it is similar enough to make my father and some of the elders think something is afoot."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. But I seem to get these looks after a training session, and it is a little weird."

"Well, I doubt that they have anything dangerous for you in mind, so whatever. How often do you train?"

"Every other day, in the afternoon after Jyuuken training. Father seems to be of the opinion that training when I am already tired will help. I will say that it is a bit harder, which is the point."

"I want to take part next time then. I want to see some of this stuff in action."

"I warn you, I put several chunin in the hospital already."

"I am sure I will be fine. I have the Kyuubi in me after all."

"If you insist honey."

"I do. Anything else interesting happen while I was away?"

"Not really. Neji has been acting kind of off lately, but it is hard to tell. He seems to be avoiding me. Or at least he is spending a lot more time out of the compound." When Naruto's mouth twisted in distaste, Hinata hurriedly continued. "I know there is no love lost between you two, but he is the son of my father's brother. Neji has changed."

"How do you know? You just said he hasn't been spending much time around here."

"He is my cousin, the closest thing that I have to a brother. I know. Chalk it up to woman's intuition if you must, but he is different."

"Okay, so what? You want me to hunt him down and talk to him?"

"I know you don't like him, but he is family. I want you two to get along. Just like I want you and Hanabi-chan to get along."

"Alright. I will go find him and have a chat. And I will try to keep it civil."

"Thank you Naruto-kun."

"Anything for you, love."

Naruto grinned when Hinata grinned and slunk over to him. "Now, I have told you everything I have been doing, but I haven't heard much about what you have been up to."

"Nothing much. Met some guys, won a bet. But I don't really think you want to hear that right now."

Hinata didn't get a chance to answer before she walked into Naruto's embrace. He wrapped his arms around her and covered her mouth in his. Hinata obligingly snaked her arms around him and kissed him back.

"You know, I think I have to spend more time out of the village if this is how you greet me."

"Hmph. I know you would miss me as much if I were the one that was constantly disappearing with strange people."

"Hey, you were the one who got an inner Hollow, remember? You vanished for days before we knew what had happened with you."

"Well at least I do not pick fights with monsters and demons, or go looking for fights while wounded. Gaara makes, what, five times now?

"Five? That seems a little high." Naruto paused for a moment. "Oh come on. You are counting Wave. You can't count Wave against me. And I was the only one who could have stood up to Gaara."

"Maybe, but what about the Hollow in Grass?"

"What about it? It never even touched me."

"You saw how it tore me up and yet you went tearing after it."

" I was defending you! Are you honestly going to hold that against me?"

"No, but you do have an alarmingly tendency to pick fights with people and things you have no right to beat."

"No right to beat? I am the goddamn Kyuubi Jinchuuriki! I can take on anyone and anything out there, no problem."

Hinata sighed and pulled away. "Look, Naruto, why don't you go look for Neji? This is a conversation I don't want to have right now."

Unsure of what he said to upset her, he was nevertheless wise enough to do as she said. He had learned a long time ago not to irritate his wife, doubly so since Hiashi had taken over her Jyuuken training. Stepping out of the apartment, he pulled his sandals on when he reached the front door. Exchanging quick greetings with Yun and Jun, he headed out to the training grounds.

He did not know Neji well, only well enough to not like him, and as a result did not know any of his haunts, assuming he had any. So he decided to start out at the training grounds, and then go from there. Twenty minutes of searching finally yielded results.

He was at Training Ground Three, a basic forest clearing area. There were a handful of training posts set up, but they were being unused. Team Gai was standing in the center of the clearing, doing what appeared to be doing a complicated series of stretches. The group was so absorbed in their routines that Naruto had to clear his throat from the edge of the clearing before anyone noticed him.

Gai turned around, bring a leg down from above his head and addressed him. "Good morning Naruto-san. How may I help you this morning?"

"Good morning Gai-sensei. Sorry for interrupting training, but I would like to have a talk with Neji. It won't take more than a few minutes, I promise."

"May I ask what you want to speak with him about?"

"Ah, I am sorry, but it is a personal issue, not a professional one. I promise I won't try to start a fight with him."

"Alright. Neji-kun, do you want to speak to him?"

"I do not mind Gai-sensei."

Tipping his head to one side, Naruto walked to the edge of the clearing. Turning to face the blond, Neji spoke first. "May I ask what is so urgent that you had to speak to me immediately Naruto-sama?"

Naruto took a long second before answering. During their fight in the Finals, Naruto had inflicted substantial damage, and not even the most talented medic-nin had been able to restore Neji's face to its pre-Chunin Exam state. The first and most obvious change was his hair. It now hung a hair short of his collar, the greater part having been shorn off by Naruto's Rasengan. Neji parted it down the middle of his head and let his dark brown hair fall to either side of his face. The second change was a large scar, about three fingers wide, that stretching from just shy of his hairline, going straight down over his right eye and cheek before ending at his jaw. The edges were slightly ragged, with slight down-and-to-the-left striations, following how Naruto's Rasengan had gone. His eye had been unharmed, but unknown to anyone but himself and the nurse who had healed him, he had asked to keep the scar, as a reminder to himself.

"Hinata-chan said that you have been acting odd lately. Normally, I really would not care, but Hinata wanted me to speak to you. She said that you have not been spending much time at the house lately, and is concerned. Why she would be after some of the shit you had done, I do not know, but it is who she is. Now, I will try to keep this brief, so I will only ask you one question, is there anything that Hinata or I should know about what is going on with you?"

Neji paused for a few seconds, tilting his head in a peculiar manner. "It has been a long few weeks since our fight in the Chunin Exam, hasn't it?" Naruto did not reply. "I have thought a long time about what you said to me back then. You told me to stop prattling on about fate because I am not a loser. You were right. I had accepted a long time ago my place in the world, and because I thought it was unjust, I decided to take my hate out on the one who had caused my circumstance. But when I couldn't do that, I took it out on the only one I could, though she was completely innocent of any wrongdoing. What I did to Hinata-sama and how I have acted toward her has been nothing short of reprehensible. There is nothing I can say in mitigation of my actions, because they are unpardonable." Pausing for a few seconds, Neji bowed his head, and went to one knee, one fist pressed to the turf, the other clenching his knee.

"I do not ask forgiveness, but to follow. You may not know this, but each Main House member is allowed to choose one from the Branch House as a personal retainer and bodyguard. I ask to be allowed to fulfill that role."

"And why would I allow you nearer to Hinata-chan than I have to? You put her in the hospital, Neji. You would have killed her. Tell me why I would let her would-be murderer within a hundred feet of her."

Daring to raise his gaze from the grass in front of him, Neji nearly flinched at the icy hate that Naruto looked at him with. Hurriedly ducking his gaze again, he spoke quickly. "I have no good reason, except that I have changed, Naruto-sama. I wish to help you achieve your goals; help you to change the Clan. I want to be part of the future that you represent."

"Hinata and I wish to abolish the Caged Bird Seal, I assume that is what you are referring to?" Neji nodded. "Is there any other reason you want to follow me, other than that? Because if that is it, it would seem that your motivations are entirely self-centered. How can I trust a bodyguard whose only reason for protecting me is because I will free him from slavery?"

"Some would argue that that is the best kind of motivation Naruto-sama."

"I will have to think it over. Now go back to your team."

"Hai, Naruto-sama." Neji didn't quite scurry, but he made his way across the field quickly. He had not expected Naruto to turn him down immediately, and that had caught him off guard. He suppressed a shiver at remembering those icy eyes, completely different from the bloody red ones he had during the Chunin Exam, but frighteningly similar at the same time. Naruto was only thirteen years old, but he possessed a singular force of personality, a presence, an overwhelming sense of being _here _that made you pay attention to him.

It wasn't anything conscious on his part; he just seemed to be more real than anything else. Neji swore he could almost _feel _the world warping around him when in his presence. Part of that was the force of his emotions, when you had done something he did not like, you knew it. He did not have to say anything, you just knew it, you could feel the displeasure radiating off of him. It was simultaneously terrifying, and awe-inspiring. He had not been surprised in the least to learn that Naruto, a mere, well, mere was probably a bad descriptor of him, but a rookie genin nonetheless had sent seasoned jounin scurrying when he said 'go' during the invasion. Neji knew that if there had ever been someone born to become Hokage, it was Naruto. If there was anyone that could have been said to be born to lead, it was Naruto.

He ignored the glances and worried looks that his teammates sent him as they resumed their training, instead crossing mental fingers and hoping for the best.

OoOoO

"You will not believe what Neji asked me," Naruto said when he had returned to Hinata.

"What did he ask?" she asked from somewhere in his room.

"Apparently, the reason why he has been avoiding you is because he has been feeling guilty. He basically said he was sorry and that he wanted to become my bodyguard."

"You should let him."

Looking over the back of the futon he had sat on, he saw Hinata poke her head past the open door to his room. "I see no reason why. He almost killed you. I am not letting him get any closer to you than I have to. And if I were to let him be my bodyguard, he would be around you quite a bit."

"You cannot hate him forever Naruto-kun He has changed, I know it. If he asked to serve you, he is being honest."

"Sure I can hate him." But Naruto had to admit that Hinata might be right. Before the Chunin Exams, there had always been a slightly disgusted and sarcastic undertone whenever he spoke. But he had not heard any of that when he had spoken to Neji a little bit ago. When he said "Naruto-sama" it had sounded like he had honestly meant it.

"Then do it for me. This has to be important to him, and spending time with him might help you to let go of some of your hate towards him."

"How important is this to you?"

Hinata came out of his room and sat down next to him. "Naruto, it isn't healthy to hate someone this much, and it has me a little worried. Everyone says that the Kyuubi was pure hate, and I am concerned. What if the Kyuubi has more influence over you than even you know?"

Naruto had never considered it like that, and he had to admit that Hinata had a point. "Fine then. I will do it, if you really want me to."

"I do," she said, nodding. Hopping up, she grabbed his hands, leaning back, trying to lever him up. Naruto only grinned, and let himself be pulled to his feet. "Come on. We have to tell my father."

"How come?"

"It is complicated. I'll explain it when we find him"

Acquiescing, Naruto followed as they looked for Hiashi. He was not in his office, or his private chambers. The dojo was empty, as were the gardens. Starting to wonder where he was, Hinata almost tripped over him as she rounded a corner.

"Father, there you are."

"Were you looking for me?"

"Yes. Naruto has decided to choose a personal retainer, but I don't think he has been established within the Clan yet."

"No he hasn't. Has he selected a his sigil?"

"No, he hasn't had the chance."

"Wait, what are you two talking about?"

Hiashi gave him an odd look before refocusing on Hinata. "Come with me then. You can explain it to him on they way."

Hinata nodded wordlessly and allowed her father to lead. Walking behind Hiashi, she turned to Naruto, ready to explain. "Let me explain first and then you can ask." She waited for his nod before continuing. "When you and I were married back in December, as far as the village was concerned you became a full member of the Hyuuga Main House. But you have never been formally established within the Clan itself. Technically, the Branch House Hyuuga do not have to do anything you say, as there is no Hyuuga Naruto within the family lists.

"When a Main House Hyuuga comes of age, by either graduating the Academy or turning 16, he or she selects a symbol to use to identify him- or herself within the Clan, and as a Clansman outside. A Branch House member goes through the same ritual when he or she gets a seat on the Council."

"So I just pick something and what, that makes me an official Hyuuga?"

"It is a little more complicated than that, but essentially, yeah. Your sign will be set into a ring which you can use to seal documents against tampering and to make sure they aren't read and give someone permission to act with your authority."

From Naruto's expression it was clear he didn't understand. "I will explain it better later. Right now, just try to pick some kind of symbol that you think represents you."

"Like what?"

"It can be anything. I never wear my signet ring, but mine is rather simple for a sigil: a seven-rayed sun. My mother said that seven rays of sunlight fell on me when I was born, and that is why I was such a happy child."

That Naruto understood, and he nodded to show that he did. "I don't know. The best that I can think of is the tailed swirl that I put on my coat."

"That is just fine. It doesn't have to be anything extremely elaborate, just something that you think represents you well."

"Hey Hiashi, what is your sigil?"

Hiashi looked over his shoulder as he said, "mine is a shattered chain."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at Hinata who shrugged. "He has never told me, or anyone else as far as I know, what it means."

"The only other person who knew what it meant is dead."

"Kind of an odd pick for you, a broken chain?"

"A shattered chain," Hiashi corrected.

"A shattered chain, then. Still, kinda weird."

He ignored the comment, instead sliding a door open and saying "here we are." Hiashi held the door open for the Hinata and Naruto and followed them into the room. Naruto looked around in mild curiosity at the cluttered room. There were desks along most the perimeter, and papers stood in slightly disordered stacks on a few of them. The shelves attached to the walls, taking up the remaining space were crammed with wood- and leather-bound books. "Hoitsu, where are you?"

"One moment please, just one moment." A few seconds later, a middle-aged mane emerged from a second room, holding wiping ink-blotched fingers on a scrap of paper. "Ah, Hiashi-sama, good day. What brings you here today?"

"My daughter's husband needs to be established within the Clan. He requires a signet ring and seal. You should have the marriage certificate somewhere here."

"I will take your word, Hiashi-sama. I do believe that I had heard that Hinata-sama had gotten married and had been wondering when he would have to be established."

"He has a design ready, and the paperwork has already been prepared."

"I see," Hoitsu said. "May I have it?" he asked Naruto.

"Ah, I don't actually have it drawn out, but I know what I want it to be."

"That is fine. Can you draw it out?"

"Yeah, probably."

"Okay then, Come back here with me." Naruto did as told, and followed him into the rear room. It was crowded with various machines, including some kind of huge press, a kiln and what appeared to be a jeweler's station, judging by the huge magnifying glass and loup. When Naruto looked back, Hoitsu was holding a clay tablet, and what looked like a metal quill.

"If you can draw your design into the clay tablet here, I will use it to make your ring."

Naruto took the tablet, which was about as large as both his hands, and maybe two inches thick. Hoitsu cleared off a section of table and let Naruto sit down. Picking up the metal stylus, he carefully drew a his symbol and handed the tablet back to the man. He set the tablet aside, and pulled him over to another part of the room, where he tried on various styles of rings. In the end, Naruto chose a thicker ring, the band almost as wide as one of the bones in his pinkie. The top of the ring was flattened, and slightly wider than the band, and squared, with the corners chopped off, so that it looked like a stretched-out octagon. When he was finished trying on rings, he was told to return the next day.

OoOoO

Tenten and Naruto walked in silence for a while, arm in arm. The silence was broken after a few minutes when Tenten said "I finally found an apartment."

"So you finally decided to move out?"

"Yeah. Mom and I had another fight. It has been getting to the point where she and I are fighting on almost a daily basis, and I just can't handle it any more. There is an apartment in the schoolyard for about ¥22,000. It is small, and only partially furnished, but it is not like I need a whole lot of space. Almost certainly going to end up dipping into my savings for stuff."

"Well, if you need money, I can help you out some."

"I should be fine. I really do not spend much, as up until now, paid no rent, didn't pay for food or utilities or equipment. I have saved a nice little nest egg for just this day."

"Well, give the lady a cookie!" The smile on his face took most of the bite out of the words though. "Need help moving?"

"Not really. Most of my stuff is already sealed away, and I am not taking any of the furniture, so it is mostly just kunai and shuriken and gun supplies, things like that."

"How about a party then? To celebrate you getting your own place?"

"No thanks Naruto-kun. This really isn't something to celebrate in my opinion."

Naruto pulled Tenten to the side of the road and pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry Tenten-chan. I know that this must be hard on you."

"It is okay. I know that you are just trying to cheer me up. I love my mom, but she just can't accept me being with you. It has just become too stressful to stay there. Dad said that I can still come buy to get equipment and stuff, but I dunno. It would feel I am still trying to cling to them if I have to go back to them for stuff like that."

"Don't feel like you have to completely sever yourself from them just because you are moving out. They are still your parents, Tenten-chan, no matter what. I never got to know my biological parents, and if it wasn't for Anko, I don't know what would have happened to me. She is the only parent I have, and I cannot stand the thought of losing her. She and I have had out fights, but we still love one another."

"I know. Sometimes I think that if Mom was a ninja, she would understand. But she isn't, and she doesn't. It must be nice having a parent who understands you."

"I am not so sure about that. Mom is not really much of a measuring stick for normal mothers. We don't argue about you or Hinata, but we argue about other things. I think it is less that she is a civilian, and more that she is your mom. I am sure that if your mom and dad were ninjas, you would just be arguing about different things. In my opinion, ninja families don't really get along that much better than civilian families."

Tenten just sighed into his chest. "I don't know. I'm just depressed."

"Well, why don't we get you moved into your new place, and then I'll see what we can do to cheer you up. Maybe we could go out to dinner somewhere, or to a movie, or something. Anything, just to get your mind of this stuff."

"We'll see. C'mon, let's get this over with."

Naruto released Tenten and followed her to her parents house. Kouseki didn't say anything as they entered and went straight upstairs. The packing took several hours, all her clothes, pictures, weapons, knickknacks and whatnot sealed into a large luggage scroll. Once that was done, just about the only thing left to do was pick up her guns, slip her gunbelt over one shoulder and grab her black trench coat. She paused for a seconds in the doorway, looking back at the stripped-down room before going back downstairs.

Naruto lounged on the other side of the room as Tenten walked up to her father. Kouseki walked around the counter and gave his daughter a serious stare. Tenten handed him a slip of paper. "That is my new address. I don't have a phone yet, but I will let you know when I get one."

Kouseki accepted the paper solemnly. "So this is it? You are really leaving?"

"Yeah."

"Well, just know that you are always welcome here, Tenten-chan. As much as you and Chichi argue, we both still love you. Please come by sometimes, so we can see you."

"I will." Both embraced suddenly, and Naruto turned away, moving to the door to give them some privacy. A few seconds later, Tenten took his hand from behind and led him out the door. She didn't look back once on they way to her apartment.

The apartment was tiny, an alcove for a foyer with a shoe rack built into one wall, a living room to the right with barely enough room for a pair of couches along one wall square, and attached kitchenette, with a bar, again, just large enough for the stove, refrigerator, sink and dishwasher. A hallway went along the straight left wall with a bathroom on the right behind the kitchenette and bedroom at the end.

Aside from the refrigerator, dishwasher, a single bookshelf in the living room and twin bed, it was bare. Looking around, Naruto said "it's... cozy."

Tenten looked over her shoulder from where she was in the hallway, going to drop her stuff in the bedroom, that told him she knew what he really meant. "Do me a favor. I gotta go talk to the landlord and sign some papers. Start unpacking for me."

"Where do you want me to put your clothes? No dresser."

"Stack them, _neatly, _on the floor for now. I will have to go furniture shopping tomorrow or something. Just stack the rest of my stuff against the wall where you can. Be back in a little bit."

Tenten slipped her shoes on and left. Naruto sighed. "She would leave me to do all the work." Nevertheless, Naruto unrolled the scroll and started to unpack. He tossed her gunkit and ammunition onto the coverlet, as well as her pistols. Her rifles were carefully leaned in a corner. The next seals contained the contents of her warchest, organized as close as it had been before. After that were her clothes. Her shirts and pants were already folded, so it just an issue of stacking them into pyramids, sot they didn't fall over and make a mess. The last seal contained her unmentionables. He immediately resealed those, because with his luck, she would walk in just as he was handling them and think that he was doing something that he wasn't.

Finished unpacking, he moseyed out into the living room/kitchen area. The refrigerator required a bit of a yank of get the door open, and when it did, it had a funny smell. The gas stove lit at once, surprisingly, and the water coming out of the faucet was clear, even though he could taste some hard mineral deposits in it.

Naruto stood up and looked through the bar when he heard the door open. "I'm back," Tenten called out as she tucked her shoes in the rack and closed the door behind her.

"In the kitchen," Naruto replied. Walking over, Tenten leaned in the doorway. "I think you are going to have to clean your new fridge out. It smells kinda bad. And the water is hard."

"Well, I was not expecting everything to be perfect when I checked it out. But it is mine now. Just signed the last of the papers with the landlord and gave him my security deposit. Glancing up to the analog clock hung on the wall in the living room, and noted the time. "It is getting late, so I think I will take a shower and go to bed."

"I will get going then." Tenten waited for him to slip past her and walk to the door before she hugged him from behind, a sudden urge seizing her.

"Naruto?" she said, her voice quavering slightly. "Don't go, please. Stay with me tonight." Her tone was quiet and breathy, an almost childlike neediness in it that pulled at Naruto's heartstrings.

Naruto turned in her embrace and cupped her chin. "You sure?"

Tenten kissed him before answering. "Yeah, I am sure. I just do not want to be alone tonight. Besides, you already proposed to me, and have slept in my room before, so it is not that big a step."

Naruto gave her a gentle smile as he leaned his forehead to rest against hers. "I know. I would be glad to stay here with you for tonight, and tomorrow, if you want, and as long as you wish me to." He punctuated that statement with another kiss, slipping one hand around her shoulders and one around the small of her back. Tenten pulled away after a few seconds and glided into the bathroom, after getting her toiletries from her room. Yelling through the door, he said "I am going out for a minute. I'll be back before you get out of the shower."

He waited for a response, but heard nothing but the hiss of the shower head. Shrugging, he left the apartment and walked down to the corner pharmacy. Going through the aisles, he picked out a cheap toothbrush and some scentless shampoo, as anything Tenten had was likely to be lavender or melon or something like that. The last thing he got was a package of condoms at the counter. He wasn't one-hundred percent sure what Tenten really planned, but he wanted to prepared in any case. He paid for his stuff, and hurried back to the apartment. He had barely gotten into the bedroom and slipped the condoms under the bed when Tenten came out.

She had blow-dried her hair, so it hung down to below her shoulders. Unwrapping the pink towel she had wrapped over herself, Naruto let out a mental sigh of relief. She was wearing a brassiere and panties under it, and nothing really racy either. He loved Tenten, but he was not ready to consummate their relationship. He and Hinata still had separate bedrooms.

Tenten smirked when she saw him relax when she took the towel off, mistaking relief for disappointment. "What, did you think I was going to be naked?"

"Uh, no," Naruto lied.

"I love you Naruto-kun, but we are only thirteen. It will be a while before I am comfortable enough to have sex."

Swaying over to him, she sat in his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. She kissed him while pulling his shirt up and over his head. Tenten rolled over and past him onto the bed, slipping under the covers. Naruto removed his pants and stood up, clad only in his boxers. Pulling the thin coverlet back, he slid in next to Tenten. Tenten had rolled over to face away from him, so he threw an arm over her stomach and pulled her in close to him. Eyes closed, already dozing off, Tenten smiled and wriggled a little to get closer. Naruto nestled his face in the crook of her neck and fell asleep smiling.

OoOoO

When Neji was summoned to the Council's meeting room late the next morning, he went with quick steps, a hair short of jogging. Kneeling and knocking on the wood frame of the rice-paper door, he was admitted within short order. Kneeling again once he had closed the door behind him, he gave Hiashi a quick glance. The full Council had been assembled, the U-shaped tables arranged so the open end faced the door. Hiashi was seated in the center of the middle table, with Naruto seated on his left, and Hinata on his right. Stopping in the approximate center of the room, Neji bowed and addressed Hiashi. "As I have been summoned, so have arrived, ready to serve, at your pleasure."

Standing up, Naruto stepped into the center of the room, passing though a small gap between the center table and the two before Neji. "Neji, you have said that you came today ready to serve. Are you prepared to fulfill that promise?"

"I am Naruto-sama.

"Then kneel and swear." Neji knelt, carefully noting the new ring that Naruto wore, as well as the silver platter with several objects Hinata carried, stand a step behind and to the right of Naruto.

"Here do I swear fealty and service to Hyuuga Naruto from this hour henceforth. I swear to give my life for his, to be honest in all things and protect him from defamation and deceit until he releases me, or death take me, or the world end. So say I Neji, Son of Hizashi, of the Hyuuga Clan of the Village Hidden in the Leaves." Shifting slightly, he lowered his head, hands on thighs, elbows pointed outwards. "Born to serve, my life to give, may death be my only release."

"And this do I hear, Naruto, Son of Minato, and I will not forget it, nor fail to reward that which is given: fealty with love, valor with honor, oath breaking with vengeance. This do I swear, until death take me or the world ends.

Turning to Hiashi he asked, "good enough?"

"I suppose. There is something to be said for brevity."

Naruto nodded once to him and turned back to Neji, holding his right fist out. As Neji had noticed a moment ago a silver band with a dark green stone inset now adorned his finger. Leaning forward to kiss the ring when Naruto told him to, he noticed the design carved into the stone, a circle with a spiral inside, nine tails wrapping around it. Stepping back, Naruto removed a large green elliptical stone, a little larger than his palm and maybe three fingers thick from a cloth-covered tray that Hinata offered him. Pressing the stone seal to a wide bowl of ink, he channeled some chakra into the green stone seal. Neji quickly shrugged off his tunic and turned, his right shoulder to Naruto. Naruto pressed the chakra-charged seal to Neji's shoulder, instantly tattooing the spiral-and-tails design into his skin.

Neji ignored the sensation of having a hundred needles pressed into his shoulder, turning to face Naruto and took Naruto's hand, helping him up. Hiashi picked up a gavel from here he was sitting and knocked it against the table once, signaling that the audience was at an end.


	24. Awakening and Ascension

Chapter Twenty-four: Awakening and Ascension

Three days passed while Konoha walked on eggshells. News of Tsunade's arrival and her participation in healing the Hokage flashed through Konoha like wildfire through drought-dried brush. And she was not the only person subject to incessant gossip. As expected, the Chunin Exams were a highly publicized event in Konoha, virtually everyone attending, and those who didn't received detailed, blow-by-blow accounts of the fights. So it was no surprised that the Hyuuga Main House's rookie's upset victory against Branch House's prodigy garnered quite a bit attention. Naruto's actions during the invasion, and revelation to his former classmates about his Jinchuuriki status was only the cherry on top.

His vanishing act after the invasion and sudden return with not one, but two Sannin, (Jiraiya's presence prior to the invasion had not been widely known,) just added fuel to the already blazing bonfire of controversy that surrounded the boy. So when a knock sounded at the door, Naruto ignored it, hoping that whoever was a t the door would go away and leave him alone, shifting slightly and tighten his grip on Tenten, who was sprawled half on, half off of him.

Ever since Tenten had moved into her own apartment earlier in the week, Naruto had gotten into the habit of waking early, around six am and waiting for the clone sleeping with Tenten or Hinata to wake and disperse, assimilating the memories, and creating a clone to replace the one that had died. But besides these quick trips between residences, Naruto did not leave the security of the indoors much, except when he had to, such as training. It quickly reached the point that it had his wife and fiancée worried.

However, whoever was at the door was not to be so easily discouraged by their non-response. Knocking again, and a third time, the interloper finally roused Tenten from her slumber.

"Nar'to-ku... go get the door," she mumbled, rolling her head to the side so that she was not face-down in Naruto's chest and could speak out of the corner of her mouth.

Groaning and growling imprecations and whoever had dared disturb their sleep, Naruto rolled out of bed and pulled on a pair of sleeper pants, half-stumbling along the wall to the front door. He blinked in surprise, half expecting to see Ino at the head of a gaggle of their friends for a surprise housewarming party. Instead he found a masked ANBU poised to knock again.

"Residence of Higurashi Tenten?" he asked.

"Yeah? What is going on?"

"Executive summons." The messenger pressed a small scroll into his hands and leaped away before Naruto had the opportunity to reply or question. Closing the door behind him, he stared at the scroll before padding back to the bedroom.

"Tenten-chan, rise and shine. You got a summons."

Rolling over to look at Naruto, she put on a confused expression. "What?"

"You are summoned to an audience with the Hokage, forthwith apparently."

"But isn't the Hokage still in a coma?"

"Last I heard, yeah, but maybe not, if this is anything to go by. Anyways, get dressed and let's see what is going on."

Yawning, but more alert than she was just a moment ago, she got up and pulled some clothes out of the new dresser she had. Going to the bathroom, she took a short shower and dressed in there. Naruto and Tenten made good time to the Tower, using the roofs to avoid any unwanted encounters, Naruto's curiosity growing when he saw that Anko and Hinata were present, as well as Asuma's team. The clone with Hinata dispersed, the real Naruto taking a few moments to assimilate and organize the clone's memories before wrapping an arm around Hinata's shoulders and giving her a peck on the cheek. Neji had arrived with the clone Naruto and was quick to reposition himself by his elbow, silent except for a murmured greeting to Tenten.

Tenten had not been sure how to feel towards Neji at first, quietly sure that Neji was playing bodyguard under duress. However, as time passed, she became less sure, especially after Hinata had explained the strange turn of events that had led to Neji pledging himself to Naruto's service. He had always had a slightly disconcerting air about him, an aloofness that precluded anyone from trying to befriend him, had she even wanted to. There had been a quiet arrogance to him, a disdainful manner to him that said he submitted to interacting with his lessers only under duress. It had made him quite unlikable and unapproachable, even before the events of the Chunin Exam.

Before, during the few times they had the chance to interact, he had only spoken to her if he had to, and was as curt as possible. Now he was a perfect gentleman-servant, greeting her politely, with a hint of genuine warmth. There was a change in his silence, difficult to quantify, but definitely there. The best way she could phrase it was that he had gone from the supercilious noble to the old family retainer, one that had been around long enough to take a few liberties. All in all, it was a bizarre transformation.

Nobody said much as they lounged in the waiting room, waiting to see the Hokage. Ten minutes passed before they were allowed admittance. Asuma led his team in first, followed by Anko, Hinata, Naruto and Tenten, with Neji bringing up the rear. The Hokage's office was spacious, despite the oversized desk situated by the floor-to-ceiling windows. Naruto was not the only one to take a second look at the person occupying the large leather chair behind the desk.

Both Tsunade and Sarutobi were present, but not where Naruto would normally expect them to be. Tsunade was reclining in the slightly overlarge leather chair situated behind the expansive desk, while Sarutobi Hiruzen was behind and to the right, seated in a cushioned wheelchair, an IV line extending from his arm to the bag hanging from the wheeled rack that he clutched with one of his hands. Naruto had not seen the Hokage since before the Chunin Exams, but he looked to have aged thirty years in the intervening time. The skin over his skull was pulled tight as parchment, large liver-spots visible through his thin hair. His robes did nothing to conceal the unhealthy slenderness of his limbs, nor the slight shaking his blue-veined hands had acquired.

His voice, when he spoke, was thin and thready, a wet rasp causing him to speak slowly. "Thank you all for coming here today."

"We were summoned Hokage-sama," Asuma stated simply.

"Yes, I suppose you were," he replied with a weak laugh that almost sent him into convulsions. "But you were summoned here for a reason. The woman sitting behind my desk is Senju Tsunade, Candidate Fifth Hokage. I have named her as my successor, but there are some matters that must be addressed immediately, and cannot wait on her confirmation. Tsunade-chan, if you would."

"I assume that you have guessed why you have been summoned here today?"

Nobody said anything.

"While our losses were not as bad as they could have been, we are somewhat shorthanded right now. Having suffered in invasion from two foreign powers, we need to give an appearance of strength, lest we begin to lose clients and income. Asuma-san, Anko-san, I am officially removing you from your positions as jounin-sensei. You are needed on missions that are far too dangerous for genin to be assigned to."

"What about our teams?" Asuma asked.

"They will remain intact, for the time being, with some minor alterations. Hyuuga Naruto, Nara Shikamaru, will you please step forward."

Tsunade examined the pair for a moment before continuing. "Any genin wishing to be promoted to chunin must possess sufficient skill in three core areas: combat prowess, leadership ability and tactical planning. Nara Shikamaru, you have displayed a high degree of mental acuity. I have a report here from the Kiri kunoichi that you fought during the Final Exam. She says that even though she rendered your family's shadow techniques all but useless, you came up with and executed a plan that had her beat within minutes. She says that you also displayed advanced grasp of hand-to-hand combat, as well as kunai, shuriken, ninja-wire, and other weapons. Is what she says true?"

"Yeah, mostly."

"Hyuuga Naruto. Reports are somewhat disorganized, but from what I hear, you defeated your opponent in the Exams with an almost unprecedented display of strength. You contributed in a significant way to the defense of Konoha, defeating and capturing the One-Tailed Jinchuuriki and killing over three hundred enemy ninja, as well as defending the civilian bunkers and hospital to good effect."

"I was the only one who could have defeated Gaara, and I had help with that."

"Humility is a good trait in a shinobi, but it can be taken too far. You took charge of the situation in the arena, ordering everyone out and to the Tower to establish the chain-of-command. Your clones ordered and organized the defense to excellent effect, preventing what would have been otherwise unavoidable casualties. I think it would be quite fair to say that if not for you, there is a better-than-even possibility that Orochimaru would have succeeded in sacking Konoha. There are some that say that you saved Konoha single-handedly, and from all the reports I have seen, I do not think that they are too far from the truth. I have dozens of shinobi commending you in their after-action reports, and quite a few recommending you for promotion.

"Both you and Shikamaru-san have displayed more than sufficient strength, tactical planning and leadership ability. So, take these flak jackets as a outward symbol of your new status as chunin."

Naruto and Shikamaru stepped forward, accepting the green jackets. "Thanks," was all Naruto said.

"Don't thank me. You have not received anything that you do not deserve. You two have earned those jackets. Dismissed. Anko-san, Asuma-san, you two will stay. You two are going to be heading to the capitol. The Fire Daimyo has requested..."

From his wheelchair, Sarutobi agreed with everything that Tsunade had said about Naruto and more. He had spoken to several of his jounin, Kakashi and Gai included, and they both agreed that Naruto had shown an exceptional level of leadership during the invasion. Kakashi had drawn parallels between Naruto and his father, remarking that the thought of disobeying Naruto had never once crossed his mind. Privately, the elderly Hokage thought that Naruto could easily qualify for tokubetsu jounin by virtue of his charisma alone. Commanding a shinobi of Kakashi's calibre was nothing short of marvelous. The fact that Kakashi had a less-than-sterling opinion to begin with only made it more incredible. The man was a born leader, in a way that he, the God of Shinobi, had never been. Naruto had certainly proved himself to be his father's son.

Prior to the invasion, most people were of one of two opinions concerning Naruto. By and large, the greatest portion of Konoha regarded him as a civil menace, his pranks had not been forgotten in the eleven months since his graduation from the Academy. Those who did not count themselves among the former were hardly better, while not hating him, they refused to acknowledge him in any way, refusing him service at stores and restaurants, and in a few, brave cases, attempting to walk over him in the street.

Now, Konoha was still split over him, but in a new way. During the invasion, Naruto had, through his clones, evacuated much of the civilian population to safehouses and bunkers created for such an eventuality. After the invasion, tales of his actions spread, the few tales of his clones succumbing to blood-lust and battle-fever far outnumbered by stories of his heroism. Practically overnight, thousands of people began to realize the error of their ways and regret their treatment of their new hero, the Lightning Legion.

The second camp predicable was populated by those who took the events during the Final Exam as confirmation that Naruto was a time bomb waiting to go off taking his other nickname Shinigami no Naruto to heart. Fortunately, the second camp seemed to be content with talk, trying to convert those of the first camp to their views and subtly harassing him in public, coming just short of instigating direct confrontation. After all, the Hokage rarely took anything other than a dim view on civilians attempting to molest his shinobi. And there was the fact that he, in their minds, was the Kyuubi. One did not willingly enter open conflict with such a being.

For the most part, the second camp was not the one that Naruto tried to avoid, consisting of, for the most part, those who had maligned him from birth. It was the first camp, the admirers and well-wishers that drove him into seclusion. After being ignored and hated by the vast majority of Konoha's population for most of his life, he simply did not know how to react to their sudden reversal. Wishing for something was one thing, having it happen before one's eyes was something else entirely.

Tsunade's voice was cut off by the closing door, leaving the two new chunin and their genin cohorts to themselves. Hinata and Tenten exchanged a grin before they both hugged him, planting a kiss on each cheek, congratulating him on his promotion. Shikamaru rolled his eyes at the display of affection, while Choji just laughed at Naruto's blush.

Shrugging his shoulders to settle the flak jacket under his greatcoat, Naruto did not get the chance to speak before Tenten said, "you know what this calls for!"

"Yakitori!" Choji interjected enthusiastically.

"Sure," Hinata agreed amicably. "In fact, it is Naruto's treat." That elicited sputtering protest from the boy.

"I have some business to take care of at home, of immediate concern."

"Nothing that cannot wait," Hinata disagreed.

"Hiashi told me that there is some paperwork that I need to finish to..." Naruto's excuse was cut off when Hinata and Tenten, individually of insufficient strength to manhandle Naruto, grabbed his elbows and dragged him off, out of earshot of the rest of the group. Naruto's pleading look caused gales of laughter from Choji, and a sardonic eye-roll from Shikamaru.

"That, that right there is exactly why I find women troublesome," the other new chunin stated to no one in particular.

"Hah, they already have him halfway whipped," Choji chortled.

"In this case, I find myself in agreement. Naruto-san seems to have involved himself with a pair of very strong-willed women."

Before anyone could reply to that, Naruto, Hinata and Tenten return, Naruto grudgingly agreeing to accompany everyone for a celebration.

As they left the tower, the two women discussing where to eat with Choji, Shikamaru leaned in close to whisper in Naruto's ear. "You know, my dad says that men are no good without a woman around. Guess that means that you are twice the man the rest of us are." Shikamaru punctuated that statement with a quick grin, suppressing a laugh at Naruto's glower.

"You know, it is not nice to kick a guy while he is down." Shikamaru chucked aloud at that, and increased his pace to join the others, leaving Naruto at the rear of the group, alone with his thoughts.

Naruto kept a weather eye on the other passersby, ready to take to the roofs at the first sign of any of his fanclub. He really did not know how to deal with such a sudden reversal of public opinion concerning himself, so just tried to avoid them whenever possible. If he was honest with himself, having people smile and greet him in genuine goodwill had him on awkward footing in public. Hell, there had been a guy at Ichiraku's the other day that had asked him for his autograph. That had surprised him to say the least, a month ago, most people wouldn't give him the time of day, and now some random guy off the street asked for his autograph.

He tried to ignore the feeling of eyes boring into his back as they ate, letting most of the conversation pass him by.

They occupied the largest booth available, Naruto sandwiched between Hinata and Tenten, Shikamaru, Choji and Shino across from them, Neji in an adjacent booth. The conversation was light and amiable, everyone making fun of Shikamaru and Naruto's discomfort. Naruto had doffed his greatcoat after a few minutes, the slim bulk of his new flak jacket ill-fitting under his coat. Shikamaru bore the mockery in silence, mock-sulking in protest. Once everyone had eaten to their fill and Naruto, true to Hinata's word, paid, they left. The two teams parted ways, Team Ten towards the outskirts, the training grounds and clan grounds, while Naruto, Tenten and Hinata went toward the center of town, Neji flanking Naruto as had become his recent habit, in the direction of the Tower and hospital.

Unlike on previous visits, the nurse manning the lobby was more than happy to help Naruto. Sasuke's encounter with his elder brother the previous month had left him in bad shape, his psyche having borne severe damage and had been hospitalized since.

Naruto and company entered Sasuke's hospital room to find Sakura and Ino occupying two chairs, one on each side of his bed, silent. Blond and rosette looked up to see who had entered, giving Naruto a second look, seeing him carrying his black greatcoat over one shoulder and high-collared flak jacket unzipped.

Ino spoke up first saying, "Well, it is about time."

That was not what Naruto had been expecting to hear, and let her know. "About time?"

Ino waved a hand at him, taking in his appearance. "Your promotion. You are wearing a flak jacket, so I assume that means that you got promoted."

"Yeah, I did," he replied, still on his back foot, so to speak.

"Good for you. You deserve it." She smiled softly and explained, his confusion evident. "You fought well during the Final Exam, and did more than just about anyone else to save Konoha. Hell, if it were not for your clones, I almost certainly be dead, Gai-sensei and Lee-kun with me."

"I am sure that Gai would have done something if I hadn't been there."

Ino shook her head. "It happened so fast, Gai would never have been able to get both me and Lee out of there."

Sakura, sitting opposite Ino swiveled her head as the two conversed, clueless as to what they were talking about. "What are you talking about?" she asked finally.

"Gai-sensei, Lee and I had been sent out to retake a section of the commercial district that had been taken by some Sound shinobi and was being used as a staging area. A squad of Naruto's clones were sent with us, six or seven of them I think. Anyways, the Sound guys had set up shop in a little mini-mart and were apparently organizing the attack from there. Gai, Lee and the clones bust and start doing their thing, while I possessed one of their guys and attacked from the inside, so to speak. Unfortunately, the bastards had wired the whole damn block to explode. I swear, I have never see _anyone _move like he did then. However your clones did it, your clones managed to get us out of there before the building went up. Broke my arm when it dispersed from a piece of shrapnel, but I would rather have a busted arm than a busted head."

"My clones are expendable. You guys aren't. Even trade in my opinion," he said simply, shrugging.

"Still, you saved our lives, and hundreds more. Lee and I made sure to say so in our after-action reports."

Naruto cleared his throat and changed the subject before he started blushing. "So how is Sasuke doing?"

"I'm fine dobe," Sasuke said, pushing himself into a sitting position. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see how you are doing. I heard that you have been stuck in the hospital ever since you lost to Ita-"

"Don't say his name," Sasuke snarled. "The next time I see _that man _I _will _kill him."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. He wiped the floor with your face last time."

"It isn't like you would do better. If it wasn't for Jiraiya, you would be dead now."

"Well, I would say that I did better than you did against him. After all, you are the one in the hospital."

"You didn't actually fight him either."

"Well, I didn't have to. He knew that he would have lost had he attacked me."

"Right. Like he would be afraid of you," sneering through the last word.

"Hey, that is 'like he would be afraid of you, sir.' I am a chunin now, so you gotta show me respect."

"Hah, a dobe like you demanding respect? Don't forget who was the Rookie of the Year." Sasuke's words were abrasive, but the arrogant smile he wore robbed them of any bite.

"That was a long time ago. I have gotten a lot stronger since then."

"And you think I have been standing still?"

Naruto's grin was threatening to split his face in two. "You sure as hell better not."

"You were never able to beat me in the Academy. You say you have gotten stronger? Why don't you prove it. Put your money where your mouth is."

"Are you sure you are up to it? You have been bedridden for a month."

"Hah, an Uchiha never loses their edge. I could have been in a coma for a year, and I would still be man enough to thrash you."

"Okay then. You and me, right now." Sasuke pulled the sheet aside and put on his sandles, absently rotating one arm.

"Guys, calm down. This isn't a good idea." Sakura had pushed her chair back and was looking worriedly between the two.

"Nah, it is okay Sakura-chan. I have been aching to fight this guys for ages now."

"Naruto-kun, what if you get in trouble? You are a chunin now, and aren't supposed to be fighting genin. Neji-niisan, help me out here."

"He wants to fight his rival. There isn't anything wrong with that."

"Besides, what could they do to me Hinata-chan? They aren't gonna demote me for getting into a fight."

"Still, this isn't a good idea."

"Don't worry so much," Ino said from her chair, leaning back and crossing her arms under her breasts. "Call it a friendly spar and nobody can get in trouble. Boys get into fights all the time."

Still reserved, Hinata nonetheless said nothing as they all climbed the stairs to the roof. The four girls and Neji took places by the fence while Naruto and Sasuke took their places in the middle of the impromptu arena. Sasuke had already activated his Sharingan, two tomoe swirling in each pupil.

"Start off with taijutsu?" Naruto asked. Sasuke just nodded.

Naruto slid his feet apart into an attack stance while Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest, the picture of indolent confidence. Grinning fit to kill, Naruto charged, leading with a chambered right hook. Looking bored, Sasuke easily blocked the strike, dancing backwards as Naruto followed up with a knee to the liver and another punch.

The next two minutes were a blur of motion, just slow enough for perception as Naruto became a whirlwind of punches and kicks, with the occasional headbutt thrown in for flavor. But no matter how he tried, he was unable to land a solid hit on Sasuke. The precognition that his two-tomoe Sharingan afforded him proved to be an insurmountable advantage for Sasuke. For Naruto's part, he had been able to prevent Sasuke from landing any solid strikes either.

Finally the two separated, panting lightly and grinning. "You have gotten pretty good," Sasuke admitted after a moment. He shook a hand, one of his fingers hurting from when he intercepted a punch from Naruto with one of his own and Naruto's signet ring probably broke his finger.

"Thanks," Naruto replied. "You too."

Without saying a word, Sasuke drew a kunai from the holster strapped to his thigh, slipping a finger through the ring and twirling it. "Hinata-chan," Naruto called, holding out a hand. Hinata drew his gladius zanpakuto from the sheath hanging from the baldric she had slipped over her shoulder and tossed it under hand to Naruto. The blond chunin took a few test swipes, wrapping his fingers around the leather-wrapped hilt in a loose grip.

After a few seconds, both boys nodded and they leaped forward, meeting with a clang of steel. The onlookers caught a brief glimpse of a series of flame-like tattoos rapidly expand over Sasuke's features before everyone but Hinata and Neji lost sight of the pair, the ring of steel a constant sound. A section of fence on the other side of the roof was cut, a series of gouges were carved into the roof. Suddenly, an explosion of smoke engulfed the roof, quickly blowing away to reveal a couple dozen clones. Sasuke suddenly went into overdrive at the sudden appearance of so many clones, killing six in the blink of an eye, jumping up out of the way of two flanking Narutos, grabbing their heads and smashing them together. Landing, he immediately jumped up ten feet, hands flickering through a trio of seals, exhaling explosively. The massive fireball that erupted from his lips killed all but the original, who had flash stepped out of the way.

Raising the hilt of his shikai up by his ear, Naruto charged Sasuke as soon as he landed. Sasuke crouched where he landed, waiting for Naruto. Their eyes met and the world tilted, throwing off balance, stumbling to one side. By the time Naruto had recovered, Sasuke had closed the distance between them, going low and blasting Naruto back with a pistoning kick to the abdomen. Racing to catch up to the skidding Naruto, he took a shallow cut on on thigh from a off-balance, blind cut from Naruto's katana. Naruto fetched up against the fence and steadied himself, tossing his katana to his left hand, forming a Rasengan in his right hand. Sasuke saw the attack form and darted to the side. But it was not enough, Naruto thrust his palm out and the sphere turned into a miniature hurricane stretching from Naruto's palm and connecting with Sasuke's chest. Sasuke was carried backwards across the roof into one of the support beams of a water tank and fell to his butt. He quickly rocked forward, clutching his chest, the Cursed Seal rapidly retreating into dormancy.

Everyone, Naruto included raced forward to see how badly Sasuke was hurt. Naruto got there first, by virtue of using flash steps and kneeled down, one hand on Sasuke's back. Expecting Sasuke to be hurt, he was caught off-guard when Sasuke coldcocked Naruto with a punch to the throat. Naruto was knocked flat on his back, gagging, Sasuke quickly jumping up and placing a foot on his throat.

"Once again, you lose dobe." Sasuke stepped back and grabbed Naruto's hand, pulling him to his feet.

"You coldcocked me."

"Yeah I did. What are you saying?"

"You cheated."

"Are you kidding? Yeah I cheated. It is kind of the point of being a ninja dobe."

"I had you beat before you cheated though."

"Yeah, that little tornado-thing hurt like a bitch." For the first time Naruto saw that the front of Sasuke's shirt had been torn away, and the steel beam he had fetched up against was dented. Sasuke stepped to one side and leaned against one of the undamaged supports, wrapping an arm around his chest. "I think you broke a rib."

"Serves you right."

Sure that the fight was finally over, Sakura and Ino rushed over and slipped Sasuke's arms over their shoulders and helped him down the stairs.

Tenten had only been paying half a mind to Naruto and Sasuke's fight, distracted by her chat with Ino. The blond was only a year older, so it was easy to strike up a conversation with her. Or rather, it was easy for Ino to strike up a conversation with herself.

"You are really lucky, you know."

Tenten was leaning against the fence wither her arms folded under her breasts turned her head to address Ino. "How so?"

"Naruto. I was a year ahead of you guys, but even the kids in my class knew of him. He seems to have done a lot of growing up since you guys graduated."

"I don't know. A lot of his goofiness in the Academy was an act, I think. I think that it is less of him growing up, and more of him acting like his real self."

"Still, even I have to admit that he has turned into quite the catch. He isn't as good looking as Sasuke-kun, but he is rather handsome."

"You think so?" Tenten asked with an arched eyebrow.

Ino turned to look at her when she heard her tone and laughed. "Oh, trust me I am so not the type to go after someone else's man. 'Sides, I like Sasuke-kun."

"If you say so."

Ino laughed again. "I don't think he would look even if I tried. He really does seem to only have eyes for you. Well, you and Hinata anyways. Tell me, how did that even happen? You and Hinata and him. There has to be a story behind that."

"It is a little complicated."

Ino gestured to the two boys who were duking it out and showing no signs of letting up. "Judging by the way that they are going at one another, we have time."

Tenten sighed and rolled her eyes, dropping her arms. "You aren't going to leave this alone aren't you?"

"What, and miss something as juicy as this? Hell no. If you won't tell me, I will just get Hinata to."

"Alright then. Honestly, it really isn't that exciting. Hinata's father went to Naruto last December, I think it was, and proposed that he marry Hinata to join his Clan. As you are well aware by now, Naruto is the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. The Hyuugas are filthy rich, and have quite a few seal masters among them. Naruto has been studying seals for a couple of years now, and marrying into the Hyuugas would give him access to a lot of books and scrolls on the subject. Anyways, he gave me a list of reasons, and I could see that he wanted it. He would have refused had I not said yes, so the whole thing is kind of my fault. In any case, it wasn't until later that he fell in love with Hinata too."

"And you guys have no problems sharing him?"

"Well, I really wouldn't call it 'sharing.' He usually creates a shadow clone whenever the three of us aren't together, so both Hinata and I kind of have our own Naruto."

"I bet that his shadow clones would come in real handy in bed."

Tenten blushed suddenly and diverted her gaze to the roof she was standing on. "I wouldn't know."

"Yeah, you guys are probably a little young for that sort of stuff," Ino replied airily.

"Like you would know any more about it then I would. You don't even have a boyfriend!" Tenten retorted with vigor.

"And how do you know that?"

"Well, for one, you are the biggest gossip in Konoha. There is no way that you would be able to keep that kind of thing to yourself. And two, you yourself said that you are set on Sasuke."

"Well, okay you got me there," Ino admitted. "But I do know how to kiss a boy. Do you?"

"Trust me, Naruto-kun and I have plenty experience."

"Have you frenched him?"

Tenten's blush returned, but not with the strength of before. "Not that it is any of your business, but yes. Plenty of times too."

"Really? How good is he?" Ino leaned over the shorter girl and lowered her voice, putting a hand up to shield her lips from view.

Tenten replied, her blush increasing slightly. She had no idea why she was playing along with Ino and answering her questions, but she did anyways. Maybe it was that she really did not have any girlfriends to gossip with, so she indulged herself with Ino. Regardless, she answered Ino's questions and even asked one or two of her own. Ino had not been lying when she said that she knew how to kiss a boy when Tenten asked for advice, despite her experience. Although, if she was honest, it probably was not much compared to other girls. Naruto was the first boy she had ever dated, and likely to be the last, since he had proposed to her in July.

In any case, it actually had felt kind of good to talk with Ino. It had been a long time since she had been able to have an equally candid conversation with another girl. Her mother had never really approved of Naruto, and there was a subtle reservation between herself and Hinata on their girls days out. Sakura was totally out of the question, and she and Ayame were hardly more than acquaintances. And that just about exhausted her list of potential female confidants. Anko was never a possibility in the first place, the age gap and the likelihood of Anko becoming her mother-in-law too much to overcome.

"You know, if you ever need someone to talk to, feel free to come over to my place, anytime."

"You sure?" Tenten asked, somewhat hesitantly. "I mean it is not like we are really friends."

"I'm sure. Sometimes you just need someone to talk to, and I can tell that you don't have someone like that. And I like you."

"If you insist."

"I do," Ino responded with a authoritative nod and crossed arms, her demeanor saying that no was not an option.

Meanwhile, Hinata and Sakura were discussing matters of a similar topic. "What is it like being married?"

"What?" Hinata didn't quite squawk, but she was caught off guard when Sakura asked her out of the blue.

"What is it like being married? I have always kind of wondered what it would be like to live with a boy."

"Well, I am not sure what to tell you. Naruto and I still have separate rooms, so we aren't like most married couples." Hinata paused for a few seconds, looking down at her beringed finger. "At first, Naruto married me for his own reasons, and not because he loved me."

"But he loves you now."

A smile curved her lips as she replied. "Yes he does, and I do him." Hinata paused again before continuing. "It is more than just knowing he loves me. It is waking up and him being the first person I see in the morning and the last person before I go to sleep. It is cleaning up after him, and serving his meals. It is the thousand little things that I do for him, and he does for me. Why do you ask?"

"I told you, I was just curious."

"You cannot lie to a Hyuuga. There is something more bothering you."

"How did you first know you loved Naruto?"

"Ah. I see."

"What do you mean?"

"I cannot give you a precise answer as to when I started loving him. I had always admired Naruto-kun, ever since I started attending the Academy at least. I can't tell you when it turned to love, because it was a gradual process. I can tell you when I realized that I loved him, that is easy. It was the year before we graduated. Naruto had been sitting on the swing in front of the Academy after school one day. There had been some older boys that were bullying one of the younger children. The little girl was sitting on the ground in the dirt crying, but the other boys wouldn't leave her alone. Naruto got up and told the bullies to leave her alone, even he had to know that they wouldn't. He continued to insist that they leave the girl alone, and eventually, they did. Of course, that meant that they turned their attention to him. He didn't fight back, even though he could have. He let them beat him up so that they would leave that little girl alone. That is when I knew that I loved him."

Sakura knew the day that Hinata was talking about. Naruto had come in the next morning with a broken and bandaged nose, two black eyes and some spectacular bruises. He had spoken with a lisp for two days. He wouldn't tell anyone what had happened, not even the teachers. Of course, Naruto being Naruto, he soon had the entire classroom laughing at him as he pantomimed himself single-handedly fighting off an invasion of a thousand enemy ninja the previous night.

"I used to think that I did not deserve to be with him, but he quickly disabused me of that notion. But I think that the question you wish to ask is how you know if you are in love. And I cannot answer that for you, only you can do that for yourself. But I can tell you that love is selfless. As long as Naruto is happy, so am I, and vice versa. But I think that the more than anything else, love is trust. I know that he will never hurt me, and I will never hurt him. As long as Naruto is with me, there is nothing anyone can do to hurt me. "

Sakura was quiet for a long time after that, and Hinata let her alone. Sakura remained quiet, not saying much even when she pulled one of Sasuke's arms over her shoulders to help him down the stairs after the fight.

The nurse on duty made a lot of noise about Naruto challenging Sasuke to a fight when he was injured, only to be reduced to muttering and glares when Sasuke said that he had started the fight. She left soon after that, wrapping Sasuke's ribs and splinting his finger and applying some healing chakra.

Naruto and the rest left soon after that. "So what are you guys gonna go do now?" Ino asked outside the front doors of the hospital.

Naruto looked at Hinata and Tenten before answering. "Probably go train. It has been a while since we have had a team session."

"Would you mind if I tagged along? With Sasuke-kun hospitalized, Kakashi-sensei and Kiba-kun have disappeared. Well, Kiba is probably at his house with his sister, but I don't really have anyone to train with for the time being.

"I don't see why not. You wanna come too Ino-chan?"

"What the hell. I don't really have anything to do. I will just get stuck on the register if I go home anyways. Why don't we go looking for Gai-sensei and Lee and we can make it a team thing?"

"Sounds good to me," Naruto said and was backed up by Tenten and Hinata.

Ino led the way, as she would know how to find her teacher and last teammate best. Predictably, Gai and Lee were in the process of pounding the snot out of one another and were more than happy to oblige them. Of course, it took several minutes to calm them down when they realized that Naruto was a chunin now.

Well aware of Naruto's speed, easily outclassing anyone on his team but himself, Gai took the first turn against Team Nine, just to judge what kind of skill the three combines possessed. It was almost immediately apparent that Naruto did not have a monopoly on speed in Team Nine. Compared to Naruto, Tenten and Hinata were positively sluggish, but still as fast if not faster than most people's Body Flickers. It took less than a minute into the team spar for Team Nine to slow themselves so that they did not completely overwhelm Team Gai.

Speed was not the only thing that Team Nine had cross-trained in either. Naruto and Hinata displayed some proficiency in Tenten's levitation trick as well.

Individually, each one was probably a match for any of his students, even Lee. One on one, it would have been no contest. Three on one, with Gai handicapping himself to about one-third strength, the overall approximate strength of a chunin, they fought him to a standstill. They showed remarkable teamwork on top of everything else, showing the effect of thousands of hours practicing together.

They showed an impressive jutsu arsenal, both in size and variation. Tenten and Hinata had at least four techniques, three in what he assumed to be their primary element, and one in the element strong against their primary element's weak one. Naruto showed a slightly larger repertoire, two non-elemental techniques on top of what seemed to Team Nine's standard four elemental ones. None of them had shown any genjutsu at all, but even with the lack, he would say that between their skill in ninjutsu, hand-to-hand taijutsu and kenjutsu, any one of them could easily qualify for chunin, never mind that one of them had gotten promoted. Hell, he could probably name a dozen chunin off the top of his head that would lose to any one of Team Nine.

The three members of Team Nine had not pulled any punches either. He had wanted to judge their skill in each of the various schools of shinobi combat, so he ordered them to limit themselves to hand-to-hand at first, then weapons mastery, and ninjutsu at last.

It took him less than a minute to realize that three-on-one was not going to get them to go all out as he wanted, so he nodded at his genin cell who were watching from the sidelines to join in. Hand-to-hand, he and his team was able to stalemate their opponents, more or less. Naruto, only using two clones so as not to give himself undue advantage was able to match Gai and Lee blow for blow. Tenten quickly had Ino routed, and Hinata's fight with Neji was not as one-sided as it was the last time they fought. But once he signaled for everyone to arm themselves, it was clear within seconds that fighting with blades was where Team Nine truly shined, Naruto and Hinata's swords and Tenten's tessen giving them an insurmountable advantage versus Ino and Neji's kunai and shuriken. He and Lee fared somewhat better against Naruto with their nunchaku, but it was close.

Ten minutes after the first blow had been thrown, Gai called a halt. In hindsight, he should have realized that Team Nine was a heavy combat squad, the mission to Grass and their performance in the Chunin Preliminaries and Finals providing more than enough evidence for such a conclusion. In a straight-up fight, such as he had offered, Team Nine would probably dominate most teams. Certainly any team he could think of that had graduated in the last two years. They were war shinobi through and through, no doubts about it. Despite being one of the foremost experts in taijutsu, with Ino and Neji, his team was a reconnaissance and scout squad, Lee and he providing the muscle to get them to safety if they required a rapid extraction. "You three fought very well today, and showed an impressive degree of skill. I can't offer much help with your bladework and I did not see any glaring defects with your ninjutsu but I can help you with your taijutsu. Tell me Naruto-kun, what style do you use? I don't recognize it."

"You wouldn't. It is something that I have kind of cobbled together."

"Well, it is certainly unique." And something that was probably limited to Naruto. It was three-dimensional in a way that few martial arts were, lots of aerial kicks and punches, oftentimes using a shadow clone to launch him into the air, or use for a Body Replacement. It was inelegant, with lots of heavy-handed punches and axe kicks, very straightforward despite the acrobatics. It had a lot of openings and unnecessary flourishes that Gai tried to help eliminate in the short time he had.

Making a shadow clone himself, he had the clone take Lee and Naruto to one side of the field, Lee and the clone mock-sparring, trying to point out element of his Strong Fist style that Naruto could use to improve his own style.

He set Hinata up against Neji, doing much of the same with her as his clone was doing with Naruto. He surprised Hinata with his knowledge of Jyuuken forms, something that would without a doubt alarm Hiashi. Although maybe it was not such a surprise, given that he had a Hyuuga on his genin cell. Nevertheless, he was able to point out some flaws in her form, giving her what seemed to her to be incorrect corrections. Again, after a moment's consideration, she knew what was going on. It was not formally acknowledged, but there were two schools of the Jyuuken: one practiced by the Main House, one practiced by the Branch House. The two were virtually identical, save that there were more higher-level techniques in the Main Houses school of Jyuuken, such as the Eight Trigrams Heavenly Spin and Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms. However, the Branch House had developed a few minor changes to the Jyuuken to offset this. In many ways, the Branch House style was just as effective, more so if one were to take into account that the Branch House made do with less.

In any case, Gai was able to offer some good advice and accurate corrections to her form. Neji was still able to beat her, but it was not the effortless domination of previous fights. It had been noted by several people, herself included, that the greatest factor that was holding her Jyuuken back was her lack of self-confidence. Combined with real instruction for the first time in years, she had gone from 'abject failure' to 'reasonably competent' in the space of about two months. Of course, Neji was still the best fighter in a generation, but between Neji's lack of true animosity towards her and her newfound skill, she was at least able to offer the illusion of being able to keep up with Neji.

Tenten was much in the same situation when it came to hand-to-hand combat with her shikai as Naruto was with his taijutsu, in that she had to improvise much of her technique when she fought. Her weapon was pretty unique, but it was similar enough to Gai's nunchaku to adapt his nunchaku-fu to her twin tessen and chain with only a little creative thinking. In fact, he offered to give her several scrolls on nunchaku fighting in order to help her improve her close-combat skills. He also asked to look at her guns, and a quick dissertation on her use had him pointing out flaws, several of which Tenten had already created workarounds to correct. Of course, the biggest and most obvious drawback was that they were single-shot, had to be reloaded after every discharge.

"Have you thought of trying to turn any of your guns into repeating firearms?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the biggest drawback to your guns is that they are single-shot. Have you thought about somehow carrying cartridges so that you don't have to reload after every shot? That way you do not have to reload after every shot."

Pulling a cartridge out from a pouch, she examined it with a speculative expression. "No, not really. Kind of surprised that I haven't, now that I think about it. I would have to redesign the cartridges though. I don't think they would be sturdy enough for a spring- or gas-loading mechanism. Maybe some kind of rotating cylinder, here above the trigger."

"What about a gravity-fed magazine? You would have a tube, or something that would drop a cartridge in the chamber when it was empty."

"I still think that would require a cartridge redesign, because I would have to somehow eject whatever is left of the cartridges. My rifles are kind of self-cleaning, incinerating everything but the bullet, but I tend to get stuff left over in my pistols."

"Well, it is just an idea."

"Yeah, I know. It is a really good idea, just needs some tweaking. Thanks Gai-sensei. I don't know if I would have ever thought of trying anything like that on my own."

"No problem. Just glad I could help." That was followed by a wide smile and a thumbs-up. The rest of the afternoon was spent on target practice. Gai was impressed at the skill with which Tenten wielded her firearms, months of practice showing. She had a marksman's eye, her accuracy not diminishing as much as one might expect at longer ranges. And once their ammunition was expended, Tenten was perfectly capable of flipping them around to use the steel-capped butts as clubs. He even blinked in surprise when she hurled one at him, coming close to striking him. Given how highly she seemed to prize her guns, he had not expected her to do that.

He had teamed Sakura and Ino up against Tenten, and he immediately recognized his rival's influence on the girl. His ad-hoc style of taijutsu was unmistakable and her ninjutsu usage was classic Kakashi. Kakashi, despite being being a ninjutsu-specialist had often remarked on and lamented his less-than-impressive chakra reserves. His Sharingan required an astonishing amount of chakra, even when covered used some chakra, although a tiny fraction of what it used when exposed. And it looked like Sakura had much of the same problems, her stellar control offset by having less chakra.

Frankly, he was amazed at the quality of shinobi that had come out of last year's class. Team Nine aside, there was the genius Nara boy on Asuma's team, and the Uchiha prodigy on Kakashi's. Hell, in any other class, Sakura probably would have been the Rookie of the Year. It was only in comparison with monsters like her former classmates that she fell short. Her taijutsu was nothing to write home about, but she more than made up for it with her brains and technique. Next to speed demons like Naruto and himself, she was easily overmatched, but she was faster than the average genin, her propensity to use clones only made it worse. She used her ninjutsu sparingly, but to good effect, devising fiendishly complicated traps and plans. He was quite embarrassed to admit that he really needed to up the ante if his team was to prove to be any match against any of the rookie teams.

The afternoon passed, and all too quickly it was time for training to end. The six genin, one chunin and one jounin all went their separate ways.

Teams Nine and Ten had been the first to find out about the Sandaime's condition and retirement, but it was not kept quiet for long as news of the jounin being called for Assembly swept through the town the next day. There were only a handful off reasons for the Jounin Assembly to be called to order, and the first and foremost reason was the confirmation of a new Hokage. To most it was proof positive that the Hokage was going to retire and was naming his successor, although who was going to be the Fifth was up for discussion. Most agreed it was likely to be either Tsunade, Jiraiya or Kakashi, the first two qualifying by virtue of their status as Sannin, and the third the son of the White Fang, the Copy-nin. It was not confirmed until the day after, the second day after Naruto and Shikamaru's promotions that it was announced that Sarutobi was indeed going into retirement again.

Thousands packed the square before the Tower for Tsunade's inauguration. The ranks of shinobi were assembled in front, according to rank and status, Academy students and genin at the very front, with chunin and jounin behind them, jounin-sensei standing by their students and chunin captains with their teams. The civilians were massed according to their time of arrival behind the ninja.

Finally, Tsunade appeared on the balcony above the crowd, flanked by a wheelchair-bound Sarutobi and his former advisers. Tsunade was already wearing her robes of office, face shadowed by the veiled hat at first, until she raised her face to look over the assembled multitude and began to speak. "The village has changed quite a bit while I was gone, but starting today the village is my responsibility as the Fifth Hokage. I swear to protect Konoha with my life, and in return I ask you to trust my leadership, that I will not spend lives carelessly, nor that I will hoard and hide away the fruits of your labors. I promise to strengthen Konoha, to make sure that we remain the greatest Hidden Village in the world."


	25. The Temptation of Sound Part One

Chapter 25: The Temptation of Sound Part One: The Four Sounds

The morning after Tsunade's inauguration found Nara Shikamaru standing before his commander-in-chief at a little after eight in the morning. "Thank you for getting here so quickly Nara-san."

"A summons from the Hokage is usually important. What do you need from me Hokage-sama?"

Holding her folded hand up before her face, the Godaime Hokage leveled a serious stare on Shikamaru. "Late last night, Uchiha Sasuke left our village. I have no doubt that he is headed to the Village Hidden in the Sound." That caused Shikamaru to narrow his eyes, it being a well-known fact that Sound was Orochimaru's personal village.

"He left! Why?"

"Because he was seduced away by Orochimaru."

Shikamaru to a step back in shock, the words tumbling out of his mouth. "Why? How did Orochimaru do it? He is one of the worst missin-nin out there! Why would Sasuke join him?"

"The reason is irrelevant, and time is wasting. I am assigning you your first mission right now."

"You want me to go get him back? As long as I don't run into any opposition, that should be pretty easy."

"True, but highly unlikely. This is not the first time something of this sort has happened. Whatever his plans, Sasuke is integral to them and wants him badly. There is a extremely high probability that Orochimaru has sent his elite henchmen to escort Sasuke to Sound."

"I request only jounin and chunin be assigned to this mission then, if it is going to be as dangerous as you think."

"Sorry, I can't do that. As you are well aware, aside from those who have permanent assignments here, much of our upper echelons are out of the village, including your former sensei Asuma and your father. Furthermore this is a time-sensitive mission. You can only pursue him as far as the Fire-Rice border. Once Sasuke has crossed into Rice Country, we must let him go. Rice is not a prosperous or powerful nation, but invading a sovereign country, even one as minor as Tea could have severe repercussions if we are not operating under the political protections of a contract. You have thirty minutes to assemble as many genin that you deem fit and leave immediately. The only chunin I can allow you to take with you is Naruto. And I believe that you will need him. You know where the Hyuuga Compound is?" Shikamaru nodded. "Take this," she said, pressing a ring into a small pool of wax at the bottom of half-sheet of paper and handing it to him, "and give it to whoever is there. It is authorization to get Naruto, and whoever else you choose. Now get going. Remember, half an hour."

Shikamaru turned to look over his shoulder and offered a smile. "I know that this is going to be troublesome, but it is someone I know, and I can't let it be. I will do everything I can to bring Sasuke back."

The Hokage's seal had granted him access to the Compound without much fuss, and a servant led him to Naruto's room. He recognized Neji sitting outside the door, who followed him into Naruto's room. Hinata was in the main room when he entered. Shikamaru blushed and turned away when he saw her in a brief shirt and panties, under a loosely closed robe.

"Good morning Shikamaru-kun. While it is nice to see you, may I ask what is so important that you would enter my rooms without knocking?"

Looking through the corner of his eye he saw that she had cinched her robe more firmly closed, with an irritated expression on her face. "Ah, sorry, I was told that these were Naruto's rooms."

"They are. His and mine. May I ask what is going on?"

"Sasuke has left the village. The Hokage told me to come get Naruto for a mission to go after him."

Hinata's expression calmed at this and she nodded. "I see."

"Tell him to meet me at the east gate in twenty-two minutes."

"Who else has been assigned?" Neji asked.

"Just him and me, right now. The Hokage told me to find Naruto, but I had assemble the rest of the team myself, limiting myself to any genin I can gather in the next twenty minutes, because of the manpower issues we are having right now." He eyed the two genin. "A pair of Hyuugas would be really useful."

"We can come."

"Excellent. Remember, east gate, twenty-two minutes."

Shikamaru left the Hyuuga, dashing to his next potential recruit. The only genin he knew to virtually any degree were those from his class in the Academy, so he went looking for his former classmates. Shino was out of the village on a mission with his father, wasting six minutes. Choji wasn't home either, and with only six minutes left he left for the gates. He had not found a tracker, Shino and Kiba being the only people he knew to have any expertise in that field

Thirty-two minutes after Shikamaru had left the Hokage Tower, he arrived at the gate, finding his team already there. He was surprised to see Tenten there, armed to the teeth as usual. "I made a clone and sent it to get her. Everyone here is a close-combat fighter, so I figured that someone who specialized at fighting at range would be useful."

"Good thinking Naruto-kun. Anyways,we need to get going. Sasuke has a ten or twelve hour head start on us, so we need to move quickly to catch up."

"One second." Shikamaru tapped his foot impatiently as Naruto pulled out a scroll and unsealed something. Handing out a bunch of radios, he said "strap these on around your necks, with the receptors on the side of your throat. Press a finger to the mic to speak, and everyone within about a mile or so will hear you." Doing as he said, he unwound the earwig and laced it up and over the back of his ear, quickly mimicked by everyone else.

"Unfortunately, we don't have anyone who has expertise in tracking, so we are just going to head north towards Sound and catch them at before they enter Rice Country."

"Actually, Hinata, Tenten or I can track him."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't explain how the technique works, but suffice to say that the trail should be fresh enough for any of us to follow."

"If you say so. Everyone, check your equipment. You were gathered here on short notice, so let me know if you are short on something."

"Tenten-chan can resupply you with just about anything you need," Naruto said, adjusting the length of his baldric.

Three minutes later, the Sasuke Retrieval Team were on their way, in a widely spaced single-file line. Hinata was first in line, using both her Byakugan and spirit threads to lead the team after Sasuke. Next was Shikamaru, who as team captain needed to be forward to judge the terrain and give orders according to what Hinata relayed, and the rest could see any hand signals he made. Third was Naruto, with his speed and shadow clones was best suited to react to an unexpected situation. After him was Tenten who, as their sniper, was best kept away from any fighting. Neji was the rearguard, his Byakugan able to keep an eye on the backtrail and their blind spots.

Outside the gates, to Shikamaru and Neji, all they saw was Hinata close her eyes and slump forward. Shikamaru moved forward to catch her, but was halted by Naruto's out-thrust arm. A moment later, Hinata straightened and reached out to grab air. "Alright, I found his trail!"

Shikamaru looked to Neji who shrugged. Apparently, whatever method that Hinata was using to track Sasuke, it was not a Hyuuga technique. There were so many mysteries surrounding Team Nine that it only came as a mild surprise that one of them would be able to track Sasuke. Between their transforming swords, the odd black costumes that they sometimes wore, and the myriad and seeming random abilities they possessed, he wouldn't put anything past them. At this point, if one of them said that they could they could fly or walk through walls, he would believe them.

In any case, however Hinata was tracking Sasuke, she was on the right trail given the number and complexity of the traps they encountered. Double tripwires, explosive barrier seals and false trails, there was obviously a sealing and trapping expert among them. The presence of the traps confirmed that there was at least one person escorting Sasuke, because many of the traps were beyond anything that had been taught in the Academy.

Shikamaru's team came across a battlefield six hours into the pursuit, signs of at least six, possibly as many as ten combatants having fought there, although there were no bodies. They hurried on past the site, hoping that one or more of their targets had been wounded, necessitating a rest for them. And not half an hour later, Hinata, whose Byakugan was focused forward spied four Sound shinobi paused in a clearing a little ways ahead. The group came to a halt as soon as she saw them. Shikamaru quickly laid out a plan, splitting their team into two, himself and Neji on the first team, with Naruto, Hinata and Tenten on the second. The first team was primarily a diversion, and he wanted to keep Team Nine intact for the moment, their teamwork probably his best weapon at the moment.

Naruto spent a few minutes creating small batches of clones, to keep both the noise and smoke down. Once he had created about two hundred, they spread out, encircling the clearing, hopefully cutting off any escape routes.

Shikamaru and Neji crept in closer to get a better look at the camp, but they were detected after less than a minute but not before they were able to establish that Sasuke was most likely alive within the barrel casket. An explosive-tagged kunai sent the pair tumbling out into the open, a little singed, but otherwise none the worse for the wear. Neji stepped into a ready stance as the four Sound got to their feet.

"Whoa, hold on! We aren't here to fight. We are here to negotiate. My name is Nara Shikamaru, chunin. I am the one in charge here."

"Hah, they sent a chunin and a genin to deal with the Sound Four? I almost feel insulted," the dark-skinned one said.

"We aren't here to fight. We wish to talk. You have one of ours, and we want him back."

"You say you are here to negotiate, but what about your guys surrounding the clearing?" Shikamaru barely had time to blink before the trees that created the border of the clearing exploded, probably killing most if not all of Naruto's clones and forcing Team Nine to enter the open. Naruto and his girls were unharmed, quick enough to outpace the activation of the explosive seals but Shikamaru grimaced nonetheless, displeased about having his plan fall apart so quickly. Or at least that is what he had wanted to the Sound ninja to think.

The arrival of three new enemies instinctively drew their attention, so Shikamaru was able to form the single rat seal and send his shadow flickering across the ground to merge with the four other ninja's shadows.

His victory was short lived when he noticed that one of the grey-haired guy's heads was missing. He barely had time to wonder what was going on when he was struck by a pair of spinning shuriken. His reflexive block broke the Shadow Imitation Technique's hold on the four.

The four enemies wasted no time taking advantage of the Konoha ninja's surprise, The red-haired girl yelled out "Jirobo, take them out!" the largest of the four slamming his palm into the ground, a dome of earth rising too quickly for even Naruto to escape.

The darkness was absolute, Naruto unable to see his hand an inch from his nose. The glow of a Rasengan was normally negligible, but even the little light it emanated was enough compared to the Stygian darkness before. The dome was fairly large as such things went, about eight or ten feet across, and about as high in the center.

"Dammit," Shikamaru muttered, angered by the ease with which he and his team was captured.

Naruto walked up to the wall, examining it closely before taking a step back and driving the Rasengan into the wall as hard as he could. When he made another to examine the damage, he saw that the crater gouged out by his attack was quickly healing, new rock forming to replace what he destroyed.

"I don't think that we will be able to fight our way out. The walls are laced with chakra pathways, which are draining our chakra."

"Devious," Shikamaru said. "It is draining us dry, and doing it quickly. If we do not do something quickly, this guy is gonna kill us."

"Our chakra is not being wasted though. He is absorbing it, making himself stronger," Hinata noted.

"Really? How about we see who handle more chakra then?" Laying his hands on the stone wall, Naruto took a deep breath and started pushing as much chakra as he could into the walls.

"Naruto, I don't think that that is a good idea." Tenten had sat down and was slumped against the wall.

"No, I can do this."

"Naruto-sama, even if you were able to somehow able to overload his technique, he will still have more chakra than he started out with. You are doing nothing but making him stronger right now."

"I said I will do this!"

After a few seconds, when Naruto showed signs of flagging and nothing happened, Shikamaru stepped forward and put his hand on Naruto's shoulder to pull him away from the wall.

"Hey, cut that out. You aren't doing anything but making our opponent stronger."

"Shut up! I am going to beat this guy!" Naruto's expression was locked into a rictus snarl and Shikamaru was almost knocked off his feet when Naruto gave one more full-body heave just as his chakra began to flag, red chakra exploding from his form, splashing against the ceiling and swirling into the dome. Shikamaru skin started stinging instantly, the skin of his upthrown arm reddened and prickling, even as the dome came crashing down, the fat guy stumbling back and screaming.

Naruto fell to his knees, sweating and panting. "Hah, told you I could do it," Naruto said to no one in particular.

Jirobo was still screaming, having fallen to his knees and clutching himself. Livid burns extended from his palms, up his arms and disappeared into his tunic. And then, just as suddenly as the screaming started, it stopped. Blood began trickling from his eyes, ears, nose and mouth as he slumped forward into the dirt, face-down.

Nobody moved for almost a minute and a half, wary for some sort of ruse. But as the seconds ticked away without the slightest twitch, Neji padded forward. Pressing two fingers to his neck, he felt no pulse.

"You killed him Naruto-sama."

Everyone, except perhaps Hinata, gave him an odd look out the corner of their eyes at that. Of course, being a Jinchuuriki, and the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki on top of that, one should expect odd things to happen. Killing with nothing but chakra was a shock even so.

"Well, let's get going then. We have lost enough grounds as is."

"Agreed," Neji assented. Shikamaru led the group out of the clearing into the trees, Jirobo lying forgotten in the dirt. The pursuit team rapidly began closing in on the the three remaining members of the Sound Four, the total absence of traps suspicious, and reasonable at the same time.

"There is no need to set traps behind you, if the only pursuit is friendly," Tenten pointed out.

"The fact that they left only one of their team to deal with all of us means that they are overconfident and that leaves us with an opportunity," Shikamaru continued. "If we give them what they expect to see, then they should not question it. Hopefully."

"So one of us Transforms into that fat bastard, and strike from within, when the time comes."

"Exactly Naruto-kun. As you are the fastest one here, as well as the most durable, you would be the best one of us to do it."

"Because I can heal better and faster than you guys."

"Precisely."

"Glad to know I am appreciated," the blond chunin grumbled. He formed the three seals anyways, and passed Shikamaru and Hinata, catching up to his "teammates." The three Sound ninja looked back at Naruto-as-Jirobo as he finally came into their sight.

"About time you caught up with us," the dark-skinned boy said, the only one who wore a hitai-aite.

"Sorry, it took a little longer to eat their chakra than I had thought it would."

"Don't be so slow you fatty. Hurry up and take the damn coffin dickhead."

"Sure thing," Naruto-as-Jirobo said. But when he reached to take the barrel from the six-armed guy, he turned around and tossed it to the red-haired girl. "Sorry, but I can't let you have this, as you are not Jirobo. Jirobo always tells Tayuya of for her language when she curses."

"I see," Naruto said, allowing the Transformation to fall away. He threw a punch, barely missing a beat, the top set of the other boy's arms raised to block. He crossed his arms to block whatever attack the multi-limbed nin charged up when his cheeks swelled. Naruto was surprised when, instead of a blade of wind, or some kind of weapon shooting forth, he was pinned to the bole of a nearby tree with what appeared to be spider silk, incredibly strong and sticky. Crossed as his arms were, he couldn't reach any of his weapons to free himself. He was relegated to a looker-on as Tenten quickly unlimbered one of her rifles and took aim. She waited as the two Hyuugas, Hinata and Neji, tried to double-team the strange ninja. They barely avoided from colliding headlong into one another as the guy flicked his hands back and fired silken lines, allowing him to swing away out of harms way. Tenten waited until he was facing away from her until she fired, snapping three of his threads with one shot.

Their enemy barely skipped a step when his smooth swing turned into a lurching pivot. He gained control of himself almost immediately, using his top two sets of hands to create a large ball of webbing, hurling it at the two still-soaring Hyuugas, capturing them in a thick cocoon-like web.

Shikamaru was left watching the battle in apprehension. He was a leader and a tactician, his jutsu arsenal limited to his family techniques, useless as long as their enemy remained airborne, unlike Team Nine. He was pretty good with his family jutsu, but had not mastered the Shadow Weaving techniques well enough to lift shadows from the ground into empty air. But he did land a few seconds later, leaving Tenten standing on a branch out in the open and slipped into the shadowy depths of the surrounding foliage. He waited patiently as "Kidomaru of the East Gate" toyed with his teammates, apparently not noticing that he had slipped away. Utilizing every iota of stealth he could summon, he ghosted behind Kidomaru, taking his time, choosing his moment carefully. He dropped from where he was sticking to the underside of a tree branch, planning to try to knock the guy to the forest floor. But his eyes widened in shock as Kidomaru whirled on him, a nasty smile twisting his face. Shikamaru couldn't do anything, falling through air as the Sound shinobi below him wrapped one of his thin lines around his wrist, probably preparing to sling Shikamaru into a nearby tree.

So when Neji came flying out of nowhere, effortlessly parting the deceptively slender line, he contorted his body, altering his fall so he would land on his feet.

"How?" Kidomaru asked in alarm.

"Anything made from chakra is naught but dust on the wind when thrown against the Jyuuken." Shikamaru looked to where Neji and Hinata had landed and found the cocoon to have been burst from the inside. Even as Neji spoke, Hinata was freeing Naruto from his bonds. Shikamaru only smirked as Naruto and Hinata landed in front of Kidomaru as he tried to flee.

"Surrender now and you need not come to harm," Shikamaru said. "You are outnumbered and overmatched." Arms crossed over his chest, he allowed the confident smirk to straighten into a slight frown. "Resist, and you will be killed." The sharp report from one of Tenten's rifles and the explosion of wood at his feet only emphasized his words. "We know that Orochimaru leads your village. In return for information, you will be allowed to reside in Konoha, given asylum. So choose. Fight for a master that will most likely punish you if you return, or return with us, and be provided a decent life."

Looking around at all these warlike men and women, hard of eye and heart, he raised his hands and folded them behind his head in defeat. Neji moved to bind him quickly, hands pulled tight across his back, palms facing out and wrists and fingers bound in ninja wire. As a last resort, should he manage to free himself without losing fingers or hands, Naruto wrapped explosive seals around his six wrists and tied with more wire. If the seal were to be torn, such as in an escape attempt, the seals would detonate, each individually large enough and charged enough to reduce one of the ancient trees surrounding them to so much mulch and sawdust.

Kidomaru was disarmed, relieved of a single kunai pouch. "I make my own weapons," he explained, shrugging. "Let me say one more thing before you guys continue. You seem to be under the impression that Sasuke-sama was kidnapped, or taken hostage, that he is being brought to Orochimaru-sama against his will. That is not true. He is the one who sought us out, seeking the power that Orochimaru-sama can give him. He has joined us of his own volition, free of coercion or duress. Sasuke-sama has immersed himself in darkness because _he wanted it._ If you want to take him back to your village, you will have to do it by force."

"You lie!" Naruto snarled, fisting his hands in Kidomaru's shirt. "There is no way that Sasuke would leave the village for more power. He is plenty strong as it is! I know it!"

Kidomaru chuckled. "Apparently, you don't know your comrade as well as you think then."

Naruto threw him down to the bark of the branch they were all standing on, huffing in disgust. Hinata put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, pulling him back. "Naruto-kun, we have to go. We can find out whether or not he is telling the truth when we find Sasuke. But we have to get going. Remember, once he crosses the border, he is gone."

"Yeah, I know. Get this piece of shit out of my sight," he growled to his clones.

The squad was on it's way a moment after that, a squad of ten Naruto clones tying Kidomaru against a tree, rigging several traps so that if he slipped his bonds a dozen kunai would be fired at him. On top of that, he was papered head-to-toe with explosive seals, set to detonate should he start actively channeling chakra in the least way. There were seals designed to restrict chakra flow, but Naruto did not have any on his person, and did not have the materials to create any. The ten Naruto shadow clones would remain behind, the traps and tags were only precautionary measures, in case the clones were dispelled. Naruto had never encountered any sort of range limitations on his technique, but now was not the time to find out and have the prisoner escape.

"Naruto-sama, even if what he says is true," Neji said over the radio, "you can save him. You saved me from the darkness, when I didn't believe that there was anything but darkness. If there is anyone who can bring him back to the light, it is you."

Nobody said anything, a sense of slight embarrassment of having accidentally overheard something intimate, not meant to be shared with others, not meant for their ears. The silence stretched awkwardly as they forest rushed by in a green blur, racing to catch up with the two remaining members of the Sound Four.

It didn't take them long to catch up with their targets, weighed down as the girl was with the coffin. The pair was quickly overwhelmed and relieved possession of the barrel containing Sasuke by a combination of Naruto's Shadow Clone Technique and Shikamaru's Shadow Imitation Technique. It was just a matter of splitting the girl and her companion up and then pinning her in place. But their elation at having finally succeeded at reclaiming Sasuke was short lived.

Relieved at having Sasuke back in their grasp, Shikamaru and Naruto, who were standing to either side of the barrel were caught off guard when a white form materialized in between them and launched them from the branch.

The new boy was almost unnaturally pale, his skin almost translucent, hair snow-white. Casually leaning on the barrel he spoke. "Tayuya, Sakon, you who were once two of the Five, have failed. Where are the other two?"

"Kimimaro..." Tayuya whispered, in awe, or fear, echoed by the two-headed boy..

"I asked you a question, Tayuya of the North Gate, Sakon of the West Gate, and I will have answers!"

Team Shikamaru looked at one another in frank surprise. He had dealt with their two strongest members, and then proceeded to utterly ignore them. This was an insult of a magnitude more than Naruto could take. Roaring wordlessly, Naruto threw himself headlong at the interloper. Twisting himself in midair, he blocked Tayuya's punch with crossed arms, easily landing on a nearby branch.

_'Fast,' _he thought as he saw Kimimaro move behind Tayuya and whisper something in her ear. Naruto could track the man with his eyes without undue difficulty, but he knew that the others wouldn't have such an easy time of it. Sure enough, he was the only one able to follow Kimimaro's passage when he left with the barrel slung under one arm.

Shikamaru stopped himself short of snarling, but his irritation was plain as day. They were close, just a few miles short of the Fire-Rice border, and rapidly running out of time. He had no doubt that he and his team could deal with the two Kimimaro had left behind, but he wasn't sure they could defeat them and catch up to that pasty-faced bastard too. He had managed to avoid splitting the team up thusfar, but he didn't see any other way of completing the mission otherwise now, and he did not like it.

"Naruto, Tenten, Hinata!" he barked. "Go after that guy, now. Neji and I will hold these two back. We do not have enough time for all of us to fight these two guys and be certain of catching up with Sasuke. You three have the best teamwork, and that Kimimaro guys is exceptionally dangerous. You will need all the advantages you can muster against him. DON'T argue!" Shikamaru said when he saw that Naruto was going to. "You three have the best chance of completing the mission out of all of us. Now get going."

Naruto jerked his head in a nod once, grabbed Hinata and Tenten's hands and vanished. Not for the first time, Shikamaru wondered at the trio's strange and wondrous abilities, but shook his head to clear it of extraneous thoughts and focused on the two Sound shinobi in front of him and Neji. Their first two opponents hadn't been terribly impressive, but that did not preclude these two from being stronger. Well, that and they hadn't given Jirobo or Kidomaru much of a chance to fight, unlike now. Two-on-two gave them a much better chance at drawing a fight out than five-on-one did.

"Stick with me, don't let yourself get drawn away if you can avoid it, and don't let either of them get away. Naruto and the others are going to have enough trouble with that Kimimaro guy as is, without having to deal with one of these two." Neji simply nodded, silent. Sakon and Tayuya seemed to be talking between themselves, as they were, and Shikamaru was content to let them. At this point, he was buying time for Naruto and his women, so the longer their enemies spent talking, the better. "We haven't seen anything either of them can do, but can you see anything peculiar about either of them? Anything that might give us a hint as to their abilities?"

"The male has an odd chakra circulatory system, doubled over, almost as if there are two bodies inhabiting the same space. I am not sure what to make of it. My Jyuuken may have less than optimal performance on him."

"So I will take the guy, and you will take the girl."

"I do not see much in the way of weaponry, but I do see what appears to be a flute, or wind instrument of some sort. Logic would dictate that she is most likely a ranged fighter, probably dealing with air or sound as some form of attack."

"I see." Plans were already coming together in his head, attack vectors and maneuvers with which to ensure victory assembling. He would try to get the guy as close to the ground as possible, because up in the canopy, he had to extend his shadow all the way down the tree he was on and up his, severely limiting the range and increasing the 'cast time,' so to speak. He didn't expect to get him to come down much, so he would have to take their height above the ground into account as well.

His thoughts were interrupted by the red-haired girl raising her voice in anger. "I don't give a shit, you damn two-faced turd! I told you, our lives are already forfeit, the only reason we are alive is because Kimimaro doesn't want to have to deal with this garbage. You know that Kimimaro speaks with Orochimaru-sama's voice in these matters."

The two-headed boy said something inaudible in response, causing Tayuya to tense up again. A lightbulb went on over Shikamaru head at Tayuya's shouts. They had already captured one enemy today. Shikamaru was not a greedy person, but the bounties on the heads of Orochimaru's personal hit-squad was likely to be sizable. The intelligence they would offer was nothing to sneer at either. Jirobo was an unavoidable death, but maybe he could talk these two into surrendering.

"Hey!" he yelled over the twenty or so intervening feet. "You seem to be caught between a rock and a hard place. Maybe we can discuss some sort of arrangement here. Jirobo is dead, and Kidomaru has been captured, and is on his way back to Konoha as we speak. If you surrender to us, we can offer you asylum in return for intelligence about the layout of the Sound Village and Orochimaru's plans. I promise you will not be mistreated, and once you have given us what we need, we can establish you within Konoha."

Tayuya laughed. "Are you shitting? For one, who the hell are you to be negotiating our surrender? It looks like we are pretty evenly matched here, since your friends ran off after Kimimaro. Second, I am a loyal shinobi-of-rank of the Village Hidden in the Sound. Third, even us Sound shinobi have a code of honor, and turning traitor at the first sign of resistance is not in it."

"From the way it sounds, no matter what you do, you are going to die, either here at our hands, or at the hands of your master. You would be appropriately compensated for your time and effort, with no fear of torture or execution when you are done."

"I accepted my fate a long time ago. If Orochimaru-sama should deem me unfit for his service, or any Sound shinobi, we would gladly accept his judgment. What you say is true: I will most likely die, no matter what I do, but as long as it is for Orochimaru, then I can accept that."

"Damn," Shikamaru muttered. Speaking out of the corner of his mouth he said to Neji, "it doesn't look like I can talk them out of fighting. If you can, take your opponent alive. If you have to kill her, do so, but they could offer much needed intelligence on Orochimaru and his village."

Neji didn't say anything, but nodded silently. "One last chance," Shikamaru announced. "Come back with us, or fight. But I warn you, should you choose to fight, neither of us will spare you."

"Hah. Let me let you in on a little secret. While that fat bastard Jirobo was physically the strongest of us, and Kidomaru was the smartest, both Sakon and I are stronger overall than they were. So if you think that we will be as easy to beat as they were, you have another thing coming."

"So be it." Drawing a kunai, he flung it by the ring (more out of reflex than anything) as she brought a flute (exactly as Neji had said) up to her lips. His shoulders slumped in disbelief as she whistled a few notes through her flute and three gigantic humanoid creatures were summoned. _'This... this is not good'_ he thought as the smoke cleared.

"Neji, you got her?"

"Yes. Although there seem to be something odd about her summons, I am ready."

Nodding silently, he dashed along the branch, drawing their attention, allowing Neji to charge, occupying Tayuya's attention so that the two-headed Sakon was the one to attack him. He did not go far, just far enough to prevent Tayuya or Sakon from assisting one another. Of course the same could apply to him and Neji, but with their radios, it should not be too much of an issue.

Shikamaru was quickly scratching his metaphorical head when Sakon apparently absorbed any attacks directed and came through none the worse for the wear. His "huh?" was quickly changed to "oh shit" when Sakon revealed that he was not the only one who inhabited his body. Neji's doubled chakra circulatory system suddenly made a whole lot more sense.

Shikamaru was not a slouch at taijutsu, but he was a far cry from Team Nine in combat ability, and suddenly he was not so sure about his chances of winning. Sakon and Ukon were not so much more skilled in taijutsu that he had no hope of winning, but Ukon's ability to have any part of his body suddenly erupt from Sakon had him at a disadvantage.

_'Asuma-sensei always said that your brain was your biggest strength, so put them to use and figure out a way to beat these guys!"_

Unfortunately, the brothers were experienced at fighting together and being unpredictable. They were capable of pulling punches when he expected a powerful blow, and kicking with three legs when he expected one. It was almost more than he could do to stay on the defensive and keep his feet. He almost wished that he had not ordered Naruto to go after Sasuke, as he was the most physically imposing one on the team. But he had, so he would have to do what he could.

He had no weapons that could seriously maim with a single blow, no techniques that could kill with single hit. Their strange bloodline also limited the effectiveness of his family's shadow techniques, able to break free by changing who was leading the body. His ninjutsu were all aimed at incapacitating an enemy, setting them up to be knocked down by a teammate. Obviously, that wasn't going to work here. Unable to come up with a workable alternative, he pressed a finger to his throat like Naruto had instructed and radioed Neji.

"Neji, this is Shikamaru. What is your status? Over."

A few seconds passed before Neji replied. "Occupied. Over."

"Well, hurry up and get over here. I have run into trouble. Over."

"How serious? Over."

"Gonna need your help to beat this guy. He has some bizarre bloodline, and I can't hurt ."

"Roger, hold him off for a few minutes. Over"

"Roger. Out."

Neji had been having a hell of a time getting close enough to Tayuya to use his Jyuuken on the girl, the musically-controlled puppets she controlled through her flute stonewalling him. His Jyuuken disrupted and destroyed them easily enough, although they were resummoned within seconds. She was well practiced at fighting with her flute, the instrument hardly hampering her movenemt. The one time that he did get within range of his fingers, she quickly shifted modes of attack, creating a storm of buffeting and slicing gusts, escaping beyond his range when he stopped to defend himself with a Kaiten. It did not take Tayuya long to activate the second level of her Cursed Seal, her skin taking on a dark, earthy tone and growing forward-pointing horns. As soon as she did, she forced her Doki's mouths open, allowing some kind of intangible many-mouthed, worm-like chakra entity to escape. As he quickly found out, just because he could not hit them, it did not mean that they could not hit him. And the fact that his Jyuuken only strengthened them was the icing on the cake.

So if he could not attack the worm-things, and the Doki themselves could not be put down for good, the only chance he had was to take Tayuya out. Of course, that was easier said than done. The Doki had not suffered any penalties to their movement or durability by releasing the worm-things, they had actually gotten faster as Tayuya advanced her Cursed Seal. All in all, he was probably in as bad a position as Shikamaru was.

But knowing that his captain needed him put a whole new spin on things. Before, he was fighting a delaying action, keeping Tayuya occupied with himself so she would not run off and catch Naruto and his partners with their pants down, so to speak. There were four levels to the orthodox Jyuuken, with the Branch Hyuuga taught the first two levels. The first level consisted of the most basic Jyuuken techniques, blunt palm strikes to internal organs and musculature. The second involved the general targeting of individual tenketsu and surgical fingertip needle jabs. The third tier involved Main Branch-specific techniques such as the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms and the Eight Trigrams Heavenly Spin. The fourth and final level of the Jyuuken was described in the clan archives, but in only the most general terms, without any specific techniques or abilities named.

Up until this point, he had been employing the first tier of the Jyuuken almost exclusively, trying to conserve energy by using unpowered palm thrusts and attacks. That changed quickly. At first, he had been focused on Tayuya's puppets, the Doki, trying to figure out a way to disable them permanently. Now, he did not have the time to try to take Tayuya alive, and went straight for the kill. He waited for the largest of the three demons to charge, ducking under a straight punch, grabbing the thing's wrist and twisting so that when he struck the elbow, it bent in the opposite way it was designed to bend. Wrenching its arm, he forced it to turn away from him or have its arm torn off. Kicking it in the back of the knee, he brought its head within reach and grabbed it by the chin and back of the head, breaking its neck. Maybe inflicting physical damage would work where chakra failed.

He did not stay to find out if his attack had incapacitated his enemy, dashing to Tayuya and the next puppet. He rolled to one side, out of the way of the long-haired Doki's massive mace. A needle jab rendered the demon's hand senseless and sent the weapon tumbling to the ground. This one was quicker, able to break Neji's thumbhold and send him into a nearby tree trunk with a side kick. Regaining his senses, he barely ducked one of the chakra worms heading right for his head and rolled up the trunk, parallel to the ground, chakra channeled to his feet. Apparently he was not the only one who could tree walk, as the now-unarmed Doki thrust at his midsection with its elbow, a move which he parried and answered with a double handed palm thrust. The thing did not stay down, catching itself in a handstand as it's feet was blasted from under it. Righting itself, Neji was forced onto the defensive for several seconds, dodging, blocking and parrying a flurry of fists.

Jumping off of the tree trunk to dodge a chakra worm, he was almost caught by a second one as he landed on a thin branch. Fortunately it broke under him and he caught himself on a lower branch. Tayuya was now about fifteen feet above him, and he quickly regained his altitude. Jumping over a third chakra worm, he continued climbing until he was in the canopy. He had to move fast, lest Tayuya leave him hiding in the leaves and go after Shikamaru or Naruto. As her Doki required line-of-sight from Tayuya to attack, they did not follow him into the leafy heights. He made sure to make enough noise that Tayuya could keep approximate track of him, and she sent the chakra worms after him, as he had expected. Keeping away from them was not difficult, as she was blind-firing them at him.

Every few seconds, he flung a kunai or shuriken at her, making her think that he was trying to break her flute. It didn't work of course, not that he expected it to. But it did make sure that she kept her attention on him.

Generally speaking, a Hyuuga that had to rely on ninjutsu in combat was looked down on, as the prevailing opinion among the Clan leadership was that the Jyuuken should be sufficient for any proper Hyuuga. Of course, one could not pass the Genin Exam, nor be promoted beyond chunin without some nin- and genjutsu. Hinata was an oddity in that she did not take to the Jyuuken and that she used ninjutsu in combat.

In any case, just because Neji did not use ninjutsu in combat did not mean that he did not know any. Creating ten regular clones, he sent them, one at a time, at Tayuya. Of course they did not last long, but they were not supposed to be anything but a distraction. Slowly moving from the last point that he had telegraphed his location, he poised himself above and just behind Tayuya. Silent falling on her, one hand loaded with chakra, he intended to thoroughly scramble her brains by sending a solid slug of chakra through her frontal lobe. He didn't even have time to blink when Tayuya whirled and caught him across the temple with her flute, hard enough to deflect his strike, breaking her nose and dislocating her jaw with the heel of his palm.

Nevertheless, both combatants were knocked from the branch, both landing hard on the forest floor. Neji recovered first, and stumbled over to where Tayuya had landed. He was wary of a trap or trick when she did not move, but the cause was plenty clear when he flipped her over with his foot. Her flute had broken, one of the two jagged ends sticking out of her eye. He barely blinked at the blood pooling around the silvery metal, instead putting two fingers to the side of her throat. Thirty seconds later and no pulse, he concluded that she was dead.

Leaving her in the dirt, he jumped into the branches, seeking his captain. He came on Shikamaru, clearly over matched, but holding his own regardless. He tapped his throat mic twice, signaling that he had arrived. He did not want to give himself away by speaking with Shikamaru, electing to studying their opponent, to choose the best moment for him to enter the battle. It was almost instantly clear that the two brothers were close-combat specialists, something that Shikamaru had already picked up on, and was trying to stay out of the range of their fists, to only limited success. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion when the brothers split, widening in alarm when one of the two brothers actually merged with Shikamaru.

Not waiting to see what the guy could do to Shikamaru like that, he jumped as hard as he could from the underside of a branch, chakra-loaded hand prepared to send a spike of chakra through the second head sticking from Shikamaru's shoulder. The boy was blasted out of Shikamaru and tumbled across the dirt like a rag doll. The other brother wasted no time in rushing to his sibling's side and assimilating him, until he was nothing but an oversized pimple on the back of the first brother's neck.

Placing a hand on Shikamaru's shoulder, he quietly asked if he was okay. Shikamaru straightened and nodded. Wiping blood from his lips with the back of his hand, he stood up. "Be very careful about going hand-to-hand with these guys. As you saw, they can merge themselves with you and damage your insides. He didn't have enough time to do anything much to me."

"Okay, so taijutsu is out. Neither of us have much in the way of offensive ninjutsu or genjutsu, and I somehow doubt that kunai and shuriken are going to cut it."

"Yeah, when they are like that," Shikamaru gestured at the two-headed boy, "they heal minor injuries almost instantly. The only way to kill them is for a one-hit kill. Anything less than instantaneous death they could likely recover from. And whatever you did to that guy, it is wearing off."

And Neji noted, that despite the fact that the spike of chakra should have shredded his brain, the second brother was starting to come to life. "Okay, we gotta act quickly, before the second one gets his act together. Can you pin him with your Shadow Imitation Technique?"

"With only one of them, yes. But they have been getting wary of getting caught by my shadow. And if the second guy wakes up, they can break my technique at will, more or less."

"Okay, then we just have to take them out before he does. Follow my lead."

As both brothers were sharing a single body, and the second brother was still recovering from the brain strike, he thought that there was a good chance that they would not be able to use whatever possession technique they used on Shikamaru. Of course, even without the second brother, the first was still highly proficient in hand-to-hand combat. And as Neji had first suspected, the brothers unique physiology rendered them all but immune to his Jyuuken.

Blunt palm strikes seemed to slow him down for a few seconds, but trying to seal his tenketsu was all but impossible. He was agile and had incredible situational awareness, able to avoid Shikamaru's shadow with not much effort. Even when Neji was able to seal one of his tenketsu, it did not seem to hamper him unduly, and reopened within a few minutes. The only other person he had ever seen to have such unnatural resilience to his Jyuuken was Naruto, and he was pretty certain that this guy did not have a Biju to unseal his tenketsu.

However the guy was doing it, it was not without cost. The boy was starting to run low on chakra, even if it did not seem to affect his performance yet. Even as low as the grey-haired boy was, Neji was hardly better. Between the chase, Jirobo's chakra-stealing technique and his battle with Tayuya, he was running on empty. "Shikamaru, I am running dangerously low on chakra, we have to hurry up and take this guy out before I collapse."

"How much longer can you last?"

"Don't know, but not very long."

Neji was slowing down, hunched over and breathing hard. The two-headed boy grinned, once the Hyuuga was out of the game, he could take the chunin out at his leisure.

Charging Neji, Sakon exchanged a quick flurry of blows, arms stinging from the Hyuuga's Jyuuken, the sensation fading after only a minute or so. The Hyuuga had limited himself to taijutsu, showing no facility for ninjutsu or genjutsu, relying wholly on his Jyuuken. So when he glimpsed the flash of steel and felt the sting of its bite, he shifted tactics quickly. Blocking with the backs of his arms, where there were fewer blood vessels to be cut, warding his attacks away with the fingers and not the palms, he settled into the defensive until he and his opponent had settled into a regular back-and-forth.

Sakon raised his left arm to block a cut, blinking at the sensation of flesh meeting flesh, instead of flesh meeting steel. Looking down, he coughed blood, dripping onto the kunai slipped in between his ribs.

"What the fuck?" he gasped. Twenty feet away, Shikamaru released Neji from his Shadow Binding Technique.

"You didn't notice when Shikamaru took control of my body with his Shadow Binding Technique, and switched the kunai from my left hand to the right. He is right-hand dominant, where I am left."

Falling to one knee, he accepted Shikamaru arm as the two began limping in the direction that Team Nine had left.

OoOoO

**A/N: **Before anyone asks, yes, I meant to say shinobi-of-rank. It will be explained exactly what that means in the next couple of chapters. Also, it was not my fault it took so long to get this out. Shikamaru was being lazy and didn't want to fight. That and several incidents with some very taxing goats equals me not being to get much screentime to write.


	26. The Temptation of Sound Part Two

Normal speech

**Inner Hollow speech**

**Chapter 26: The Temptation of Sound Part Two: Valley of the End**

It took less than two minutes for Naruto to catch up with Kimimaro, even carrying Hinata and Tenten as he was. Out of the three of them, he had the greatest facility for flash stepping, and he was able to pull Hinata and Tenten along in his slipstream, boosting their flash steps to the point that they were not much slower than he was. They caught up to Kimimaro in a sizable clearing, short grasses and wildflowers bounded by the dense forest.

Kimimaro had stopped in the approximate center of the field, facing away from them, one hand resting on Sasuke's coffin which was on the ground. Halting a dozen yards from the boy, flanked by Hinata with Tenten, as their sniper, back in the trees. Naruto clenched and unclenched his fists, struggling to suppress the red rage rising within him. Keeping his voice low and trying not to move his lips as much as possible, he directed his words at his teammates, two fingers pressed to the pickup on his throat. "Hinata, hang back and let me test him. Keep me covered from where you are Tenten-chan. Both of you keep an eye for any chances to get that barrel back. Remember, Sasuke is the objective here." Without waiting for them to agree, he raised his voice for Kimimaro to hear and said, "what you you want with Sasuke, bastard? What is Orochimaru planning? Tell me now or I will kill you right here."

He knew that his control was slipping, his voice dipping an octave, acquiring the basso tone that was the precursor to the release of the Kyuubi's chakra. The pale boy turned to face Naruto, his face showing utter indifference. He cocked his head, as if considering whether or not to answer Naruto's question. "Orochimaru has created a technique that gives him functional immortality. However, it is immortality of the soul, not of the body. He requires fresh bodies to inhabit every so often, when his current form begins to weaken and decay. Sasuke is just the latest in the long line of sacrifices required for Orochimaru's continued existence."

"I see. The thing is that he and I are friends. I refuse to let you take Sasuke away from us. MASS SHADOW CLONE TECHNIQUE!" The field was engulfed in a bank of rapidly dissipating smoke, revealing three hundred or more shadow clones.

"Interesting," Kimimaro replied in the detached tone of voice that matched the bored expression he wore. Raising his arms, two edged ivory rods emerged from his palms. His calm announcement of his technique, "the Dance of the Willows," was lost in the roar of the battalion of Naruto's warcries. Fast as Naruto was, Kimimaro was faster, effortlessly dispatching dozens of clones in half as many seconds. His attack routines drew comparisons with the Jyuuken, in that they both were comprised of flowing blocks and parries, although Kimimaro used more footwork, leaping about like a jackrabbit. The clones worked together, slowly limiting his escape routes, hemming him into a shrinking circle of grass. But just when Naruto thought he had Kimimaro pinned down, he spun, more of the off-white spikes erupting from his joints. Having bought himself a brief respite, Kimimaro straightened to explain.

"This is my bloodline limit, the Dead Bone Pulse, the manipulation of my skeletal structure by the infusion of chakra."

Naruto's mouth widened into a shit-eating grin. "Sounds handy."

"Indeed," Kimimaro responded, giving a slight nod at the compliment. "And it is not limited to manipulating bones within me." Pushing his tunic down around his waist, he reached to his left shoulder, the skin and musculature fraying and coming apart, exposing a long protrusion. Kimimaro grabbed it with his right hand and pulled a two-sectioned sword free, the flesh of his should knitting back together as quickly as it had come apart.

"A sword," the blond chunin remarked.

"Correct. The bones of my blade here have been hardened, enough to shatter steel."

"Really? How about we test that assertion then?" The true Naruto stepped forward, the remaining two-hundred-odd clones backing up to create a ring for the two combatants, backing up far enough to put Hinata within the ring.

Back in the trees, Tenten grinned from her perch halfway up the tree, rifle cradled in the crook of her arm. She flipped the cap covering the end of the crude, Jerry-rigged scope, essentially one half of a set of binoculars and drew a bead on Kimimaro.

"Two ninja, only one a chunin, is this the best Konoha can do for the last of their most prized bloodline?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a sharp crap rang out across the field, Kimimaro's head spinning around with neck-breaking force, stumbling back a step, knocked off balance. Turning to face Naruto and Hinata, he regained his equilibrium, reaching up and prising a lead slug from the skin just below his left eye. Rolling the bullet between his fingers, he look up in surprise. "Not many shinobi use firearms, my compliments on the skill of your sniper."

Naruto grimaced. There went the probability of being able to retrieve Sasuke quickly. He and Hinata heard Tenten swearing over the radio. "Nice shot Tenten. He can reinforce his bones with chakra. You are gonna have to get him in the eye, or in the mouth to put him down." Tenten grunted an affirmative.

Naruto and Hinata drew their swords and separated to flank Kimimaro. Kimimaro, for his part, looked supremely unconcerned, despite the fact that he was outnumbered three to one, facing two swordsmen and at least one sniper. Naruto and Hinata held their positions, his skill already established. "I see that you two at least know enough to not cut yourselves. But I am a master of the Five Dances, an adept of the School of White Blossoms. Do not presume that your skill outstrips my own." His expression had changed from casual indolence to angered arrogance.

"And do not presume that we are without skill either. We are Shinobi of Konoha, and we fight as one. I will give you one chance to surrender, before you die."

"Ridiculous. I am a servant of Orochimaru the White Snake, the greatest of the Legendary Three Ninja. I am the leader of Sound Five, Orochimaru-sama's personal guard. To presume that I would surrender myself to a pair of Konoha-nin is laughable. Now the time for speaking is ended. The only words we will exchange are those spoken by our blades. Come and die."

Spreading his legs, he held his bone sword in a low guard, the point almost touching the grass. Naruto nodded, and as one he and Hinata attacked. Stepping toward Hinata, he parried a thrust aimed at his stomach in a narrow looping parry before whirling on Naruto and thrusting, parried in turn by a downward sweep of Naruto's gladius. With Naruto's blade out of position, Kimimaro thrust his palm at Naruto's face, a Dance of the Willow bone blade emerging from his palm. He was rocked to his right, a gunshot sounding and a bullet drilling into the side of his head, just forward of his ear. Hinata dipped into a low cut aimed at hamstringing him, but missed when he leaped straight up, flat-footed, twisting to land behind her.

Her Byakugan long since activated, she did not need to turn to see him swing at her head, her rapier flashing up vertically, using her off hand to brace the block. Gracefully ducking and allowing Kimimaro's bone sword to slide off her zanpakuto she twisted her sword and awkwardly stabbed at him in reverse over her head. Kimimaro jerked his head out of the way of her stab, and was forced to bend over backwards as Naruto took a flying leap over Hinata's crouched form, short blade leading. He missed, but it gave Hinata the chance to recover. Once again flanking the boy, they both ran at him, Naruto cutting high, Hinata thrusting low. Kimimaro evaded by hopping up on Sasuke's casket. Hinata and Naruto altered their attack vectors, coming at him from opposite angles. Kimimaro was knocked off the casket towards Naruto by a shot from Tenten. Naruto took the chance to try to take his head but was almost skewered when Kimimaro turned his stumble into a lurching pivot, his ribs erupting out of his chest in a move that had Naruto throwing himself to the side in a wild roll. There was an odd curving pattern of lines spread over the middle of his chest now.

Sensing Hinata closing from behind him, Kimimaro dropped to the ground in a foot sweep that Hinata easily hopped over. He followed his foot sweep with an ankle-level cut which Hinata narrowly dodged by going into a one-handed cartwheel. Both combatants righted themselves and were halted by a flare of chakra from the barrel that Sasuke was in. The paper seals burned away right before the barrel itself exploded. Throwing arms up to shield themselves from the wood shrapnel, the smoke was dispersed in a handful of seconds, revealing a pale-haired, dark-skinned Sasuke. He quickly reverted into his normal form, the Cursed Seal retreating into dormancy.

Naruto's appeals were wholly ignored, and he headed into the forest towards Rice Country almost immediately. Kimimaro was shot again, preventing him from cutting Naruto's head off from behind. Jerked back into the present, he swore.

"Dammit. Guys, we gotta take this bastard out now. We are practically on the border with Rice. Sasuke will make it over in minutes."

"Go after him Naruto-kun," Hinata ordered.

"What? No way. We gotta take this guy out together."

"Naruto, as you said, we cannot afford to waste time here with this guy. Sasuke-san will cross into Rice any minute now. Tenten and I can deal with him while you go get Sasuke."

"How are you going to beat him? The three of us together are fighting him to a standstill."

"Naruto-kun, do as Hinata says. If Sasuke gets away, this entire mission will have been for nothing. Hinata and I can figure out some way to beat him. Trust us."

When he hesitated, Hinata spoke again. "Go on Naruto-kun. I still have _that _technique to use."

Abruptly, he nodded. "Alright. But don't either of you dare get yourselves killed by this bastard. I will be _extremely _angry if you do."

Hinata grinned and he could hear Tenten chuckling over the radio. "Don't worry about us. Just concern yourself about getting Sasuke back home."

"Will do. Be careful." Hinata and Tenten said nothing as Naruto ran off in the direction that Sasuke had left, Kimimaro letting him go unchallenged.

"So you think that you two can defeat me when three of you couldn't?"

"Yeah. Especially since I wasn't fighting at my full strength." Hinata took a deep breath and closed her eyes, confident that Kimimaro would leave her be long enough gather her will. Opening her eyes and glaring at Kimimaro, she could not feel it, but she knew that the whites of her eyes had inverted to a deep black, her pupilless grey eyes changing to a sickly yellow. Raising her free hand to her face, she clawed her fingers and dragged her hand down. Shadow congealed and formed a oval white mask, marked with rows of split-ended red slashed below the impenetrably black eye-slits and between where her brows were. The black-and-white Garments of the Dead settling around her from. The meager killing intent that she had been unconsciously directing at Kimimaro was radically altered, gravity increasing it's pull, the air thickening around his limbs, making the white-haired teen's hear beat faster in inexplicable fear.

He was almost forced to his knees, gritting and shrugging the sensation of sludge pouring around him off. He blinked, the image of a cowled skeleton wielding a straight, double-edged longsword and scythe hovering behind the masked girl. He blinked again and she was gone, only a slight breeze behind him alerting him to Hinata's movement. His spine grew a series of spikes in the space of a breath, but the slender girl merely seized the spikes and picked him up bodily before slamming him headfirst into the ground.

His bones being what they were, the impact did no damage, but it did serve as a display of Hinata's increased strength and reflexes. He planted his hands to either side of his head and rotated, knocking Hinata back with a tornado kick. But not before he felt a odd wrenching sensation in his back. When he righted himself he saw a two-and-a-half foot length of his bone in one of her hands.

"Impossible!" he gasped.

"**You have threatened me and my family, insulted my home and kidnapped a fellow Konoha shinobi. For that, you will die." **Kimimaro was Orochimaru's highest-ranking subordinate after Kabuto, and was not accustomed to experiencing fear outside of Orochimaru's presence. But there was something about the black-haired girl that struck a primal chord within, something base and animal, bypassing conscious thought and going straight for the hindbrain. It was a different fear than what he felt in Orochimaru's presence, that a more human, more controlled fear, a fear that could be faced and mastered in the light of reason. This fear, it spoke to the darkness-that-comes-before, the inchoate mass untamed thought and animal instincts dwelling within all souls.

Her mask inspired part of that fear, the utter _alienness _of her mask, the absence of anything remotely human in the pure white and bloody crimson, eyeslits twin wells of bottomless black, not a hint of her mutated eyes in them.

It was madness, that this masked girl could strike such terror in him. In the end, it was the anger that allowed himself to regain mastery of himself. He was Kaguya Kimimaro, he reminded himself, Captain of the Sound Five, the hand-picked elite of the Village Hidden in Sound, Orochimaru-sama's left hand. All this passed in the space of a breath, and suddenly he was himself again, the trembling weight pressing down on him vanished. He held onto his anger as he and Hinata exchanged blows. She still moved like the wind, flickering around him, striking at his flanks and back, but he could track her, albeit barely.

Even able to track her, he was forced back and back, her slender body powering deceptively powerful cuts and thrusts. He was unable to reply in kind, his whole being bent to keeping her rapier from his flesh. Given that she had snapped one of his thighbone-thick spines with one hand, he had no doubt that she would be able to break even his reinforced bones with her sword.

The mere fact that she was able to so effortlessly match him with his Cursed Seal of Earth activated was an affront. The fact that she was only a genin, judging from her lack of a flak jacket was just salt on the wound. Gritting his teeth, he focused in a certain way and growled "Dance of the Pines," spikes erupted from every single joint, a defensive forest of spikes meant only to buy him enough time to advance his seal to the second level.

Normally advancing to the second level took a few seconds, but he pressed it, forced it to change him as close to instantaneously as he could manage. It probably was not a good idea to force the seal like that, but this masked Hinata did not seem like the type to give him any more breathing room than she had to. And lo and behold, she flickered into sight above him, her falling momentum adding to the already prodigious strength she could summon. It wasn't enough to create impact craters, but at the levels of force they were dealing with, it was the difference between broken bones and shattered bones.

Leaning forward, he took a couple of flashing steps before turning back to where Hinata was about to land. She had jumped too high, giving him time to escape and round on her. He ran around the point she should land, fingers leveled, intending to unleash a withering storm of Drilling Finger Bullets when she alighted. Kimimaro was not the sort to swear normally, unlike his former subordinate Tayuya, but he certainly felt like it when Hinata righted herself in midair and launched herself at him without touching ground. Kimimaro threw himself to the ground in a shoulder roll, catching her in the side with a swipe of his tail. Reaching back to rip his spine free, he wasted no time putting it to use in the first stage of the Dance of the Clematis.

He managed to snag one of her ankles and yank her into range of his Dance of the Clematis: Flower. He grinned in anticipation as the bones of his arm formed into a flower-like drill. His laughter was cut short as he was blasted high into the air by a wall of compressed dirt. Twisting to right himself as he rocketed skyward, he saw a second girl, as dark of hair but darker of skin than Hinata. The sniper he presumed. Come to think of it, he realized that he had not been shot since the blond chunin had gone after Sasuke. The dark-skinned interloper was almost thirty feet away, hands pressed against the soil, an impressive distance to create an Earth Release: Earth Style Wall from.

He almost snarled when she formed several seals and blasted him even higher with a strong gust of wind from almost sixty feet away. He was not surprised when his original opponent, the Hollow-masked Hinata materialized next to him and sent him flashing back towards earth with a flipping ax kick.

He had just landed, Hinata still far above, when a dragon of brown earth exploded from the ground not five feet from him and struck him in the side, sending him tumbling even farther away from from the gunwoman. He was almost angry enough to cry at his apparent impotence, but no matter how hot his rage burned, he could barely get the odd potshot in, between Hinata's speed and overwhelming strength and the new girl's ranged earth techniques, he was plainly outmatched. Singly, he had no doubt that he could kill either one, but whatever holes that were left in one of their defenses was covered by the other.

He had advanced his seal to the second stage and had already used both the all but one of his dances, but it was not enough. Even combining the Dance of the Clematis: Vine to attack with his spine, the Dance of the Larch to add bones to his forearms to punch and slash with and the Dance of the Willow to add bone blades to what joints that did not already have blades growing out of, it was not enough.

He caught a blocked a sidearmed cut aimed at his midsection with his spine, making the whip curl around the sword and Hinata's arm, lashing out with his unoccupied spiked fist, he was blown from his feet by another earth dragon. He ducked under its lunge when he caught himself and destroyed its head with a spike-laden punch only to have to lean into a forward roll to avoid being decapitated by Hinata, catching her across the ribs with his tail. He knew he had a few seconds before the sniper-girl summoned another attack, so he rushed to where Hinata had landed, going into a spin, lashing out with both his tail and his spine. She backflipped out of the way and he pursued her, the pair exchanging a series of lightning-quick cuts and blocks.

He managed to lay her suddenly unmasked cheek open to the bone before she twirled inside his guard and used the first ninjutsu he saw her use, exhaling a stream of fire that blinded him, but otherwise left him unharmed. He felt her fist contact his midriff and he was knocked back several stumbling steps through a Earth Style Wall, the small cloud of dust further obscuring his vision.

Before his vision returned, he heard Hinata's voice, without the screeching tone that she had taken when she donned her mask angrily announce "You are within the field of my divination! Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" and begin to count off her strikes. He couldn't do anything but marvel in detached wonder that her pinpoint Jyuuken strikes were able to penetrate his battered internal armor. Between all the chakra he had expended, and his illness, he did not have the concentration, nor the chakra to reinforce his armor. So he was reduced to counting the seconds until her attack ended.

He felt the Cursed Seal of Earth retreat into dormancy as he collapsed to the earth, boneless and with barely enough energy to draw breath. Having suffered from considerable physical abuse from his clan, and later his illness, he was no stranger to pain, but this was positively exquisite. He was dying, some corner of his brain noted, but he could not bring himself to care much, aside from the fact that he had failed Orochimaru. The two girls voices faded into the background as his vision fell out of focus and his breathing slowed.

Slumping forward in her seated position, Tenten sighed tiredly. She had not done much physically, but the Sound of Earth that she had used to track Hinata and Kimimaro and the Earth Serpent were not chakra-inexpensive. While their battle with Kimimaro could have gone better, they were alive, and he was dead, and in the end that was all that mattered. Hell, she had _finally _gotten to use her rifles in a real fight.

Hinata was not so good though. Tenten had to admit that Hinata scared her a little bit. The spiritual pressure that her Hollow mask summoned had actually knocked her from her perch her tree, dozens of yards away. She had no idea how Kimimaro had managed to shrug it off so quickly. It had taken her over a minute to discard the debilitating weight that the air had taken after Hinata had donned the mask. Even then, she had to resort to her Sound of Earth in order to avoid losing the pair quickly. In comparison to Naruto and his wife, she felt pretty useless. All three of them had their shinigami powers, but Naruto had the Kyuubi and Hinata had her inner Hollow to draw upon on top of that. She, well, she had nothing. While she could flash step, she was nowhere as good as Naruto was, and her guns had proved to be distressingly ineffectual against Kimimaro. Even her earth-natured bullets, which were supposed to be piercing had been only maginally more effective than her regular ones. Granted, it had not been until she had intervened that they had defeated Kimimaro, but Hinata had been holding her own, one-on-one the entire time.

Eventually Hinata rolled over where she had collapsed face down so she stared up into the sky. Hinata grabbed Tenten's proffered hand and let the other woman heave her to her feet. Hinata was barely able to keep her feet, her knees wobbly and a full-body ache from the onset of exhaustion. Tenten pulled one of Hinata's arms over her shoulders to prevent the other woman from going right back down.

The pair crossed the field and reentered the forest, heading in the direction that Naruto and Sasuke had departed. They had barely gone a hundred feet when an equally battered-looking Neji and Shikamaru emerged from the forest behind them. Limping, the four shinobi went after their last teammate.

OoOoO

It did not take long for Naruto to catch up to Sasuke, but he still managed to make it to the Sen River, which marked the border between Rice and Fire. There were two monolithic forms carved into opposite cliffs, both armored, but one with longer, neater hair, the other with a wilder, untamed mane.

"SASUKE!" Naruto roared from his place atop the neater-haired statue. "What the HELL is going on with YOU? Where are you RUNNING TO?"

Across the river, Sasuke alighted on the wild-haired statue and faced away from Naruto. "Hey there dumbass. I guess I should have expected you to show up." Sasuke turned to face Naruto, the stylized flames of the Cursed Seal covering one-half of his face. "What is any of it to you? My reasons are my own, and none of your concern. But I will say one thing to you, my childish games with you Konoha shinobi are over. Go home. I am no longer a shinobi of Konoha."

"What the hell are you talking about? Shikamaru, Neji, Hinata, Tenten, they all came after you, risking their lives to bring you back home! And you tell me to go home? Ridiculous."

"Really? Well good for them."

"GOOD FOR THEM? GOOD FOR THEM? They are your comrades, fellow Konoha ninja!" Taking a running jump, Naruto crossed the intervening space and landed on Sasuke, knocking the other boy onto his back. Sasuke ignored the pain, spitting blood onto Naruto's cheek.

"I told you," Sasuke replied with an arrogant smirk, "I am no longer a Konoha shinobi. I am going to Orochimaru to gain strength that I cannot gain here."

"Ar you kidding? Do you think that Orochimaru is just going to give you power for free? He wants you to become his new body! You would die!"

"I don't care. As long as I can achieve my goal, I don't care what happens to my body. If Orochimaru can give me the power I need, he is welcome to it."

"It's that Cursed Seal. This isn't the Sasuke I know. The Sasuke I know would never run away to a criminal like Orochimaru. The Sasuke I know would train and seize power with his own hands, not go looking for handouts."

"I'm NOT looking for handouts! I am going to Orochimaru because I cannot gain the power I need in Konoha. More power than anyone in Konoha has."

"More power? Are you fucking around with me? You say you need more power? Did you forget that you beat me just the other day? How much more power do you need?"

"I barely beat you, and only because you let your guard down. If a no-clan orphan like you can fight me, an Uchiha! to a standstill, then only lose because I suckerpunched you, then I don't have anywhere near the power I must have."

"Need more power? Come on Sasuke! You are the Last Loyal Uchiha! You could have anybody, anybody! in Konoha train you! Most would consider it an honor, a privilege to teach you. And with your Sharingan, you can learn anything out there. You are the Rookie of the Year, a genius that could learn anything that the teachers showed the first time."

Until now, Sasuke had been calmly lying on his back letting Naruto loom over him. But when Naruto uttered the word "genius" Sasuke's expression changed from one of indifference to rage, knocking Naruto off him with a double heel-thrust to the sternum. "Genius? GENIUS? I am NOT a genius! _That man _is a genius! Hatake Kakashi is a genius! Hell, even that bum Shikamaru is a genius! But me? I am not a genius. I work hard for my skills. I trained for hours after school every day to be able to hit a target with shuriken every single time. I worked for months to perfect my taijutsu. I pushed myself to chakra exhaustion for weeks after learning a new technique to master it. So calling me a genius belittles all my efforts, insults my work. And yes, I am the Last Loyal Uchiha, and because I am the Last Loyal Uchiha, I am automatically expected to be a great shinobi of Konoha like my father and mother and brother were.

"You say that I have enough power, that I can get anyone in Konoha to train me, except I can't. Kakashi is in charge of my training and he has forbidden anyone else from teaching me. He is limiting my growth when I need to be learning everything I can. Orochimaru promised to teach me anything I wish to learn. _That man _graduated from the Academy at seven, promoted to chunin at ten, inducted into ANBU at eleven, became a captain at thirteen. When I need to be getting stronger, I am being held back. So that is why I am leaving."

Naruto was silent for a long handful of seconds. When he spoke it was with a growly undertone that set the fine hairs on the back of Sasuke's neck on end. "If Kakashi-sensei doesn't want you going to anyone else to learn, then there is probably a reason. But you don't care. You don't care about anyone or anything unless it helps you getting stronger. The minute you felt that you were being held back, you go running to the first guy who says he will give you power, even if you have to give up your body to do it. But I really don't even care about that. I was given a mission to bring you back to Konoha, and I will do everything I can to complete it. I had to leave Tenten and Hinata to fight one of the strongest shinobi I have ever seen. They are risking their lives, ready to give them up to bring you back. So if you think that I am just going to let you go without a fight, you have another thing coming."

Sasuke simply nodded. "I wouldn't expect anything less." Sasuke threw the first blow, knocking Naruto from the top of the statue into the river below. Naruto caught himself on the surface of the river and immediately dashed back towards the statue's head, where Sasuke was. Sasuke did not stand still, charging straight down the carved stone meeting Naruto halfway down. The pair exchanged blows, neither gaining the upper hand. While Naruto had the upper hand in speed, he was not fast enough to overwhelm Sasuke with the precognitive powers of his two-tomoe Sharingan. Both boys were knocked off the side of the statue, Naruto back towards the river, Sasuke arching high into the air. Naruto twisted as he fell, managing to land on his feet.

Sasuke oriented himself on the blond chunin thirty feet below and formed the seals for the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique. Naruto easily avoided it of course, but he had not meant for it to hit. The massive gout had distracted Naruto and diverted him, allowing Sasuke to land on his feet instead of on the end of Naruto's fist. Drawing a kunai in one hand and a brace of shuriken in the other, he flung the ninja stars at the blond chunin, which Naruto blocked with his short blade. His sword was longer than a kunai, heavier and with greater weight. So that is why Naruto easily punched through Sasuke's flimsy defense and scored a shallow cut along Sasuke's right side.

Sasuke grunted and stepped in close, jabbing his fist in a short blow at Naruto short ribs. Naruto took the punch in stride and both combatants separated. Pressing a hand to the cut on his side, Sasuke nodded towards Naruto, giving him the point. And in the blink of an eye, the three-tomoe tattoo on his neck exploding into a flame-like pattern covering his entire form.

Naruto could sense the change in the nature of Sasuke's chakra immediately, altering from a normal, natural blue to an ugly, bruised purple. Before Naruto realized it, he could feel the red rage rising within him in response to the evil aura Sasuke had donned. The two charged again, a black flame igniting around Sasuke's hands while a turbulent ball of chakra of a similar shade to Sasuke's aura coalesced in Naruto's left hand.

Sasuke managed to parry Naruto's downward slash aimed at his collarbone while stabbing at the Rasengan in Naruto's other hand. Sasuke's expression changed from one of confidence to pained surprise as the Rasengan destroyed the flame-wrapped kunai and drove into his midsection. Sasuke was hurled backwards and sank below the surface of the water. Naruto dashed forward to where Sasuke had landed, either to rescue him, should his Rasengan seriously injured him, or to continue the battle before Sasuke got the chance to recover if it hadn't. The violent churning of the water was the only warning Naruto had before a ten foot fireball erupted out of the water right where he was standing.

Naruto flash stepped safely out of the way, waiting for Sasuke to resurface. Naruto took several deep breaths as he waited, hyperventilating in preparation to use a wind technique. Almost thirty seconds after Sasuke had gone under, the boy finally broke the surface of the river. Naruto was on him in a flash, but the Cursed Seal enhanced his body and his reflexes to the point that they were evenly matched.

Accepting that he could not beat Sasuke in close quarters, with bare fists or blade, Naruto sheathed his zanpakuto and formed the cross seal, a thirty shadow clones popping into reality around him. They all drew steel and attacked Sasuke, but he was able to dispatch the fragile clones with some effort. Forming seals, Naruto unleashed huge gusts of wind and balls of wind and water along with large snakes, wrist thick and possessing fangs inches long. Seeing the ineffectiveness of their attacks so far, Sasuke having either dodged or blocked Naruto's ninjutsu, several clones concentrated in a certain way, gathering their chakra into their chests and trying to grapple with Sasuke as they exploded. But between the enhanced physical abilities of the Cursed Seal, and the precognitive sight offered by the Sharingan, the only way Naruto was able to land a solid blow against his opponent was through liberal use of flash steps. And even then Sasuke displayed almost unnatural durability and regeneration, rapidly healing the few wounds Naruto was able to inflict.

On the other hand, Sasuke had his hands full with Naruto, shadow clones providing an effective bulwark against the real one. While Naruto was unable to land a blow on Sasuke, the same could be said of Sasuke. Killing clones did not do anything but waste energy, certainly not harming Naruto in any way. Even when that bloody red chakra burst forth, creating a shroud that completely encased Naruto and his clones, a single long tail waving back and forth he was able to keep up with him, the feeling of his Sharingan changing, almost able to sense the third tomoe form in his irises. Wherever that chakra came from, it was a double-edged sword, the destructive nature of the chakra degrading the matrices of the clones, killing all of them within minutes.

But even without his clones, the chakra-shrouded Naruto was able to keep up with Sasuke. As Sasuke quickly found out, taijutsu was a bad idea, the bubbling chakra stinging his fists when he struck. Also, the chakra seemed to have a mind of its own, pulling away from a missed swipe to swipe again, stretching dozens of feet when Sasuke tried to put some distance between himself and Naruto. It even functioned as a form of armor, a Great Fireball Technique just parting around the shroud with no visible effect.

The only thing that saved him from being burned every time Naruto struck with those chakra claws was his Cursed Seal. He realized within seconds that Naruto was not going to allow him within range of his fists, and his ninjutsu had not shown any effect. Sasuke just smiled when he realized this. He would have been severely disappointed had he been able to defeat Naruto utilizing the first level of the Cursed Seal only. Smile widening to deranged proportions, he allowed the seal to go all they way, evolving to the second stage for the first time.

Curling a wing around his body protectively, he lashed out with it, flinging Naruto away. Sasuke snarled in true anger for the first time when it became obvious that even with the power of the fully evolved Cursed Seal, he was not strong enough to land a definitive blow on Naruto. On the other hand, he was able to go onto the offensive for the first time in their fight. While the red chakra shroud gave Naruto some impressive advantages, it also possessed some significant drawbacks. The most prominent of those being, as previously stated, Naruto pretty much lost the ability to create shadow clones. He also seemed to regress somewhat, discarding his sword in favor of his fists. He retained his speech and taijutsu skills, at least enough that Sasuke wasn't able to completely overwhelm Naruto.

Sasuke was caught by surprise when Naruto tackled him, knocking him off his feet and into the river. At first, Sasuke assumed that Naruto was just trying to pin him to the surface of the river and put him into a submission hold, but Naruto disengaged almost immediately. Sasuke blinked at the bleeding hole in his shoulder when he managed to surface again. It was only then that Sasuke registered the distinct stink of a recently discharged firearm, and immediately sought out the source of the attack. He simultaneously swore at the sight of the other Konoha ninja that had been sent to retrieve him and wondered why Naruto had taken the bullet.

"STAND DOWN!" the wounded Naruto ordered. "I REPEAT: STAND DOWN! No one is to interfere with my fight under any circumstances!" The river was not exceptionally wide at this point so Naruto's voice carried easily to the rest of the Sasuke Retrieval Team. Nobody replied, but Tenten did lower her rifle.

Not waiting for anyone to reply in either case, Naruto returned his attention to Sasuke. To the beaten and battered Konoha shinobi looking on from the bank of the river the fight was nothing less than awesome. Naruto had long since eclipsed either of his partners in flash stepping, only flickers of movement perceivable when the two rivals connected. Even Hinata, gifted with extraordinary perception with or without the Byakugan active was not able to track them, her clan's dojutsu not geared towards tracking movement at such high velocity.

Shikamaru had long since been convinced that Team Nine were no longer human, or at least completely so. Between Naruto, who housed the Kyuubi in his soul, Hinata, and her utterly inhuman mask, and Tenten, with her almost sociopathic willingness to harm anyone who got in her way, her fights in the Chunin Exams and any number of times she and her team had attacked his under orders from Anko. He was sure that it had only been instructions from her jounin-sensei that had kept her from doing more than cracking skulls when their teams fought. He had been completely convinced that Tenten would have shot Sakura in the Final Exams, had she the opportunity.

The fight proceeding in front of him simultaneously cemented that thought in his head, while thinking that maybe Team Nine was not the only ones with monsters. The chakra rolling off Naruto and Sasuke was nothing short of terrifying, and it was a testament to his will that he kept control of his bladder. Hinata and Tenten seemed to be almost completely unaffected, of course, but Neji was hardly better off.

Shikamaru had a little experience with a Kyuubified Naruto, not quite to the degree he was experiencing right now, but enough that he was able to process the fear, if not the urge to relieve himself. Sasuke on the other hand, he had never seen Sasuke like this. The corrupt power that was being channeled by the boy was almost as evil as the Kyuubi chakra Naruto was using, but of a subtly different flavor. The power of the Kyuubi was malice condensed, compressed, shorn of any other emotion than rage and hate.

Sasuke's power was more complex, diverse in a way that a Biju could never be. It was hatred, rage, avarice, lust, pride and a dozen other emotions all rolled together until they mixed and melded into something greater than the sum of their parts. The Kyuubi's power was utterly inhuman, both in its intensity and narrow-mindedness, as the power of one of the Nine should be. But Sasuke's power felt more... _human, _for lack of a better word. It was dark and destructive yes, but undeniably mortal. The Kyuubi's rage was such that it surpassed comprehension, but the emotions of Sasuke's power were small enough to be empathized with.

But no matter how Sasuke fought, Shikamaru simply could not envision him overcoming the titan power Naruto commanded. Naruto and Sasuke were of similar height, but to Shikamaru, the Kyuubi-possessed Naruto towered over his enemy. Shikamaru was astounded that Sasuke could even stand so close to Naruto. He and the others were almost thirty feet away and it was all he could do to keep his feet. The thought of retreating crossed his mind, but he could not persuade his limbs to obey. And for the first time, Shikamaru realized, truly realized, what it must have been like for those who had faced down the real thing, if a mere fraction of its power could send him to his knees.

For Neji, it was no less terrifying but it only assured him that he had made the correct decision in choosing to follow Naruto. He had kept the striated scar passing extending from hairline to jaw, passing over his right eye as a personal penance, a sort of sign to remind himself what had happened that day. Naruto had always been someone of remarkable determination, not resting until he had completed the task he had set before himself, whether it was to steal into the all the Hyuuga's laundry rooms and dye the detergent bright colors or to master a jutsu. From the beginning Neji never had a doubt that Naruto would return to Konoha with Sasuke in tow, no matter what, because failure simply was not an option for him. Possible and impossible meant less than nothing to Naruto. Once he had set his mind on something, he would do it, come hell or high water.

Seeing that Naruto had actually caught up to Sasuke, there was no doubt in any of the Sasuke Retrieval Team member's minds that Naruto would lose to the Uchiha, Hinata and Tenten by virtue of being in love with him, Neji, having lost to Naruto so badly that he couldn't believe that Naruto could lose to Sasuke, and Shikamaru because he couldn't see Sasuke, no matter where he was drawing his tainted chakra from, simply did not have enough power to overwhelm the Kyuubi, because no matter how much chakra Sasuke had, Naruto had more.

Nevertheless, for the moment, Sasuke was holding his own. Tenten and Hinata winced at each echoing _crack, _the sound of fists meeting at superhuman speeds, and the rapid, almost continuous sounds of feet slapping water. Sasuke launched several large fireballs, which Naruto shrugged off, blocking with his Kyuubi shroud. Naruto replied with Pressure Bullets and Rasengans, both blocked by Sasuke's hand-like wings. Whatever had happened to Sasuke, it had given him impressive durability, able to block tree-felling blows like they were nothing. Everyone believed that Naruto would emerge victorious, but in what condition was up in the air, Sasuke often giving as good as he got. The two powerhouses were reduced to taijutsu for the most part, neither possessing ninjutsu fast enough to catch the other, or powerful enough to break through either's defenses. Even Naruto's Hidden Shadow Snake Hands hadn't been able to pierce Sasuke's thick grey skin to deliver their poisons. More often than not, Sasuke simply caught and destroyed them with his Sharingan.

The battle ground on and on, neither combatant able to gain a clear advantage over the other until it came to a sudden and bloody conclusion. The mismatched pair had been hovering about fifteen feet up above the river, Sasuke hovering with his wings and Naruto by using spirit particle manipulation. Naruto had reclaimed his zanpakuto some time ago and attacked with his silver katana shikai. Sasuke zoomed forward, powered by a strong downstroke and parried Naruto's upwards diagonal slash with his left wing, and with a swooping upward thrust, speared Naruto through his side with his right, pinning him to the statue of Madara that was right behind him. Naruto's eye widened in shock, his zanpakuto slipping from his grip. Smiling victoriously, Sasuke barely had the chance to register Naruto thrusting one hand forward, a familiar vortex of wind reaching out and throwing Sasuke back, cratering the statue of Hashirama.

He fell forward, towards the water, but his attention was in the bloody rent in his side. In any case, his descent was halted by a pair of slender arms, lifting him partway out of the water. Blinking, trying to see past the pain he grinned at Hinata's face hovering inches from his own.

"I trust that you will not complain at our interference, given the circumstances."

"Heh. Sasuke. Gotta get that bloody bastard before he gets away and wastes all out efforts."

Grunting, Hinata helped Naruto to his feet, Tenten pulling his other arm over her shoulders. Shikamaru and Neji had not rushed to Naruto when the two boys had been thrown apart. Sasuke was already restrained, although the bindings were somewhat redundant. The Uchiha's face was a bloody ruin, his face a grim mask of blood. Naruto's Uzumaki Secret Technique: Typhoon Palm had inflicted a hundred tiny cuts on Sasuke's face, any one by itself would have been little more than a papercut but together gave the illusion of a far greater injury.

The damage to his face aside, Sasuke had slammed into the stone statue with considerable force, the blow to his face already having knocked him out, therefore his superhuman endurance had also been lost. On the other hand, he did not come out of it as bad as he could have. A cracked skull and a couple of ribs were the extent of his internal injuries, bruising aside. Either way, he was out of commission for a while. Slowly gathering themselves, they bandaged their wounds and headed home.

**A/N: **No the black fire is not Amaterasu, just the result of a fire technique powered by the Cursed Seal. And Hollow-Hinata is so fun to write, I gotta find a way to work her into more battles. Lastly, if you need a soundtrack for Sasuke's fight, I had Way of the Fist by Five Finger Death Punch on loop while writing.


	27. Return Triumphant

**Chapter 27: Return Triumphant**

It was well past dark by the time that the Sasuke Retrieval Team returned to Konoha, their progress slowed by their injuries and Naruto collecting the bodies of their defeated foemen. It turned out that Tayuya had not actually been killed, but pretty was damn close by getting her flute shoved into her brain. Nobody was sure how she had survived that, but she was alive. Her pulse was weak and her breathing irregular, but she was in no immediate danger. Her head was bandaged, her flute stabilized and left in place for the moment. She remained unconscious the entire way back to Konoha, Kidomaru ordered to carry her after she had been bandaged and disarmed.

Tenten's ammo scrolls had been emptied so that Naruto could seal the bodies of Kimimaro, Sakon/Ukon and Jirobo in them. Barely an hour into the return trip Kakashi, who had returned from a mission early, accompanied by a team of medics intercepted them and ordered Shikamaru to brief him on what had happened. He didn't mind carrying Sasuke and was well within his rights to demand a debriefing as the only jounin present, so Shikamaru filled him in on what had happened.

Nevertheless, between recovering from the aftermath of their battles, collecting bodies and prisoners, and linking up with Kakashi, they took several hours longer to get home than to get the Valley. Kakashi was able to get them past the gates with a minimum of fuss and they headed straight for the hospital. While Naruto and Sasuke were the worst off among the Konoha shinobi, everyone was suffering from degrees of chakra exhaustion and strained muscles at the very least. Tayuya (still comatose) and Kidomaru were quickly whisked away and removed to the secure ward while the two chunin and three genin were ushered into examination rooms. Team Nine proved to be a bit of a problem, as they were adamant that they not be separated. Eventually Naruto was coaxed into letting go of Hinata and Tenten's shoulders and the girls released his arms, on the premise that they would be reunited once they had had been inspected.

The five members of the Sasuke Retrieval Team had not suffered any life-threatening wounds, Neji suffering from three cracked ribs, and a sprained wrist, Shikamaru had a broken finger, fractured forearm and several mild sprains. Hinata only had a single cut on her cheek and Tenten nothing worse than a case of chakra exhaustion. Naruto had suffered the worst injuries, the stab wound in his gut, the bullet wound in his shoulder and first, second and third degree burns from overexposure to the Kyuubi's chakra. Normally speaking, the damage would have been healed long since, but his regeneration had been noted to become depressed to near-human levels after using a certain amount of Kyuubi chakra. He had remained conscious for hours on the way back, but he was far from healthy.

The kunai wound was repaired within a few minutes, the blood pooling in his abdomen drawn out and incinerated, as was the bullet wound. The shot was not a through-and-through, so it took the medics, unfamiliar with gunshot wounds, almost twenty minutes to find the bullet, extract it and the pieces of cloth from his multiple layers of clothing that the bullet had carried into his shoulder. Had they been left where they were, the small patches would have suppurated and gotten infected. His immune system would have been able to deal with the infection, but not the cloth itself. In any case, the gunshot wound was cleaned and mended.

Unfortunately, as advanced as medical techniques had become, burns were still tricky injuries to deal with, chakra burns even more so. On top of all that, the fact that he suffered burns on almost one hundred percent of his body meant that there was very little they could do. The only blessing in all this was that very little of his body had suffered significant burn damage. Most of it was mild, about as bad as a severe sunburn. Regardless, any second or third degree burn that covered about ten to fifteen percent of the total body surface area or more was life threatening in a normal human. The worst of the burns had been concentrated on his hands and forearms, and around the wounds in his shoulder and gut. He was wrapped in bandages, almost from head to foot.

If Naruto had been anyone else, there would have been major concerns about infection, heart damage, blood flow to the extremities (or peripheral vascular resistance) and decreased blood volume, (aka hypovolemia.) Naruto being Naruto seemed to be suffering from none of these, to the simultaneous surprise (quickly shaken off, as if they should have expected it,) and relief. Had anyone but Naruto suffered his injuries, that person would have been dead in two or three hours.

The next problem was analgesia. Naruto had a problematic and well-documented near-immunity to painkillers. His metabolism was such that he often metabolized any painkillers in less than ten minutes, unless several opioid and opiates were combined and administered in quantities that would put any three men into cardiac arrest in seconds. But despite the incredible pain he had to have been experiencing, he refused the medication until he knew how his women were doing.

Sasuke had not fared well, yet was in nowhere near the condition Naruto was in. Aside from the numerous cuts on his face, he had a concussion, a broken arm, some cracked ribs, a contusion on one of his kidneys and three compressed vertebra. His injuries would take time to heal, especially the spinal damage, but nothing was life threatening.

The next morning came in a blond and busty package sniggering and whispering to a long haired, elderly gent who was trying to stifle his own amusement. Hinata was the first to be roused by the pair's subdued laughter, attempting to deathglare them into leaving. Of course they didn't, their laughter becoming louder until Tenten was woken up, and finally a mummified Naruto by all the movement on the bed.

The reason for the two loyal Sannin's amusement was the fact that Naruto, Hinata and Tenten had, despite protests from the nurses all cozied up in a single bed. Now, the situation might have been less hilarious had all three been wearing their normal attire, or even sleepwear. But as anyone who has suffered a condition that necessitated a visit to a hospital knows, any patient is relieved of their clothes and given a paper gown to wear, which almost always gaps in the back. And while there were some differences between military and civilian hospitals, the dress code was not one of them. Hinata and Tenten, lying on opposite sides of Naruto, each tucked under one of Naruto's arms discovered that their Naruto's hands had wandered during the night and drifted well south of the belt line, acquiring pleasant handfuls of white generic issue cotton panty-clad buttocks.

Both girls flushed, but whether it was from being groped, or being caught being groped was up for discussion. Choking on their laughter, the two Sannin left a few seconds later. Several minutes passed and the Hokage returned, this time with Shikamaru and Neji in tow as well.

"Well, don't you look comfortable?" Shikamaru asked when everyone had entered.

Naruto grinned. "Jealousy is an ugly emotion," he shot back. Tenten and Hinata had raised the back of the bed and helped Naruto into a sitting position where he could hug them both, and they could hug him back.

"Right. 'One pretty woman means fun at the dance. Two pretty women mean trouble in the house. Three pretty women means run for the hills.'"

Jiraiya roared. "You know, your father said something remarkably similar a long time ago. It would seem that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Shikamaru looked away when Hinata and Tenten directed hard stares his way.

"In any case, if we can get to the matter for which we are all here?" Tsunade asked somewhat acerbically. She waited long enough for someone to speak and when no one did, she continued. "First of all Shikamaru-san, congratulations on your first successfully completed mission. The payment for a B-ranked mission as well as bonuses for the bodies you recovered and the two Sound ninja you captured will be deposited into all your accounts. Now, I know you haven't had the chance to even start on your after-action reports, but I would like to hear what happened while it is fresh."

Shikamaru nodded and began speaking. Tsunade listened closely, not interrupting even when Shikamaru related how Naruto killed Jirobo. His part of the report took almost half an hour, handing the narration off to Tenten and Hinata to describe the fight with Kimimaro, and finally to Naruto to tell about his fight with Sasuke, looping back to Shikamaru and Neji to fill in any gaps.

The entire verbal mission report took a few minutes over an hour, Tsunade waiting until they had completed their report before interrogating them. Her questions were brief, concerning details about the Sound Five, Kimimaro, Sakon and Ukon in particular. The prisoners had been handed over to Ibiki in T&I for processing as soon as Team Shikamaru had returned to Konoha, but had held off the interrogations until Team Shikamaru had a chance to submit their reports. Ibiki was a methodical man, and he never went into an interrogation without all the information available. Tsunade said that she wanted their reports by the end of the day and excusing herself and Jiraiya, left.

OoOoO

For probably the first time in over a decade, Tsunade well and truly did not know what to do. She was in her office, Jiraiya, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura arrayed on the furniture along the wall. The problem was Sasuke. "I am not sure how far we can punish him. He has already been placed on a six month suspension and house arrest. Given whom he is, and the fact that he has already tried to defect once, I am wary about doing anything to alienate him further."

"The boy is a genin who tried to run off to Orochimaru and you are worried about punishing him too much?" Scorn was plenty evident in Jiraiya's tone and body language.

"As distasteful as it is, yes. Like it or not, he is the last Uchiha in Konoha. And his defection would be a severe blow to our strength. And before you say anything, I know we have been able to do well enough in the last five years," Tsunade said, preempting Jiraiya, "but the Uchiha were a major asset. Sasuke is our last chance to regain the Uchiha as a viable military resource. So yes, I am wary of doing anything to make him angrier than he is. At this point, he would be willing to join anyone who said they could help him kill Itachi. I have read over his instructors psych evals while he was at the Academy, as well as Kakashi's reports. I examined him after he was defeated by his brother before I was brought back, and he I am sure that he wouldn't have attempted something like this before he was beaten. The damage to his psyche is significant, perhaps more so than anyone realized."

"You realize what you are doing Tsunade? Courting a genin like this?"

"I know Jiraiya, and it leaves as bad a taste in my mouth as it does yours. If you have a better way of keeping Sasuke here short of twenty four hour surveillance or imprisonment, I am all ears."

"Let Naruto talk to him."

"Is that altogether wise?" Koharu asked.

"Trust me, I know my apprentice. He is as angered by Sasuke's attempting to defect as anyone else is. Naruto is the only one of his generation Sasuke respects, and I think that he is the only person who could possibly get through to him right now. He certainly has a better chance to get through to him than Kakashi or Iruka does. Having one of the T&I guys just show up will put him on his guard, make him clam up completely. Maybe send him to one of Ibiki's guys later, but he needs someone he knows right now."

"Well, I don't suppose that he could make things much worse," Homura mused.

"If Naruto was of a mind, I have no doubt that he could send Sasuke running to Water, even with their history with bloodlines. But I agree with Jiraiya. At this point, anyone who can get through to Sasuke is welcome to try."

OoOoO

Wrapped up in white bandages, almost from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet, Naruto was wheeled out of his room and into the secure ward of the hospital. Passing a dozen heavy steel security doors set into the walls, the nurse pushing him stopped in front of room 1108. Swiping her card through the reader beside the door, she waited for the green light to flick on and the loud metal clank of the lock disengaging. Backing through the door, the nurse pulled Naruto through as the door swung open. Rolling his wheelchair to the head of the bed, she stepped back into the corner and folded her hands and waited. Her instructions had been to bring Naruto to this room and wait.

Sasuke was lying in the bed on his back, hemmed in by burnished steel safety rails. He was not handcuffed to the bed, or restrained in any way, the seals built into the walls, floor and ceiling assuring that Sasuke would be staying right where he was. The area suppression seals had been set to their highest settings, restricting any free flowing chakra to the bare minimum required for vital bodily functions.

To anyone inside the array, including Naruto, it would feel like the life had been leached out of them, the blonds limbs gaining a hundred pounds, eyes heavy with sand, even his hair seeming to drag down. Neither boy said anything and the silence stretched. Naruto wasn't exactly sure how long he waited, probably somewhere between thirty and forty minutes, for Sasuke to speak. When he did, it was with his usual brevity.

"Go away."

"No."

"I said go away," Sasuke repeated tonelessly.

"And I said no," Naruto responded with almost the same exact tone. Sasuke fell silent for another ten minutes.

"Why are you here dumbass?"

"The same reason why you would come in my place, bastard. I am your friend."

"Friend?"

"Yeah. Or at least I thought so before you went running off to Orochimaru. That was a seriously stupid move on your part by the way."

"Hn."

"Curl your lip and sneer all you like, but you still went off without a moment's planning. Seriously, getting caught by Sakura leaving the village? I thought you were supposed to be the Rookie of the Year?"

"Is there a reason why you are here, or did you come just to bother me."

"I came here hoping that I could try to talk some sense into you. You know that the Hokage was seriously considering throwing you in prison and tossing away the key?"

Sasuke blinked. "Ridiculous. I am the Last Uchiha."

"Believe it or not, your name does not have the pull it once did. She seems to be of the opinion that you are too dangerous to risk losing. She would rather stick you in the deepest, darkest hole she can find rather than risk having you defect." Sasuke did not have anything to say to that, so Naruto continued. "I came because I convinced her to let me talk to you, to try to convince you not to try such a stupid stunt again. What do I have to do to make you realize you can get as strong as you must right here?"

"_That man _was an ANBU captain by the time he was as old as I am now!"

"And he was a genius. You have admitted that you aren't, so trying to hold yourself to his standards is ludicrous. Of course it is going to take you longer to get to be as strong as he is, but are you on a clock? Do you have to kill him in the next year? Two?" No answer. "So what is the rush? Gain strength, push yourself to be your best, but don't push yourself beyond your limits. Train hard, but don't expect to get strong overnight. Kakashi is a jounin for a reason, so trust him. He has no reason to sabotage your training and every reason to aid it. There are people here that want to see you grow strong, if you would just open your eyes. Konoha loves you man, why would you go and throw that away? You have everything that you could possibly want here. Love, respect, admiration, everything that I have ever wanted from the village, they give to you without even thinking about it. Yes, your brother is a psychopath that murdered your entire family in a single night and mindfucked you twice, but you have so much more good to balance it out!"

Naruto wasn't quite shouting, but he was speaking with emphasis, leaning forward and bracing himself on the steel rails. Sasuke found himself looking at Naruto, almost despite himself when he heard the pain in Naruto's voice. Sasuke looked on with an expression just shy of total shock at the sight of Naruto nearly crying.

"All I have ever wanted in my life is to have the villagers look at me with the respect and admiration that they look at you with. A whole village of admirers, and you would leave all that behind to join the most hated criminal in the history of Konoha. Tell me, did you know that Orochimaru wanted to kill you and take your body for his own?"

"Yes," Sasuke replied softly.

"You knew? And you went anyway? Is there anything that you would have not given Orochimaru if he had offered you more power?"

Sasuke shifted his gaze to the wall away from Naruto, unable to answer. "What about restoring your clan? How are you supposed to restore your clan if you die to get your revenge on Itachi? And what about those you left behind? Sakura was a wreck. I can guarantee that she was worrying herself into having a fit when you left. That girl worships the ground you walk on you know. I courted her for years, but you were the only person she ever thought about. And she is not the only one. Ino has been as devoted to you as Sakura has. You are not alone Sasuke. You never were. You still have family, if you would just look."

Motioning to the nurse, she started to wheel him out of the room. As he rolled through the door, Naruto tossed one last comment over his shoulder. "I consider you my best friend, after Hinata and Tenten, but if you ever try to defect again, I will kill you."

Sasuke shuddered at the flatness in Naruto's voice and closed his eyes. Maybe Naruto had a point. If Naruto could get strong enough to defeat him under the tutelage of a tokubetsu jounin, then he should be able to eclipse Naruto with a full jounin as his teacher easily.

The nurse had turned to begin rolling Naruto back to his hospital room when he held out a hand to stop her and turned the other way. There was a figure emerging from one of the rooms, a redheaded child surrounded several taller people. Motioning for the nurse to push him over there, Naruto cleared his throat. "What is going on here?"

"Ah, Uzumaki-san, I did not see you there, sir," one of the Konoha ninja said. Strictly speaking, the sir and salute the other chunin gave him was unnecessary, but Naruto nodded and returned it anyways. "Prisoner exchange, sir. He has been ransomed out."

"I see." Gaara was in the middle of the group, hands enclosed in a pair of hollow steel balls, both weighting hands and preventing hand signs. His two siblings were also present, as well as their jounin-sensei.

"Naruto-kun," Gaara said quietly, staring with his usual disturbing intensity, although Naruto noted the absence of killing intent his gaze was usually laced with.

"If you don't mind, I would like to speak to him privately for a moment please."

"Of course, sir," the Konoha ninja said immediately. Gaara's team was much less willing to let the two alone, but backed off at a nod from the redhead.

"Going home?" Gaara nodded. "How have you been doing?"

Gaara cocked his head and thought about it before he answered. "Good. I sleep now."

"Ero-sennin have a look at your seal?" Gaara nodded silently. "Good. I am glad that he was able to help you."

"So am I."

Naruto laughed. "I imagine so. But seriously, I _am _glad that he was able to help you. My life hasn't been all roses, but what your father did to you was wrong. You never deserved what was done to you, and I hope that you can move past it and learn to live your life."

"I believe I can." Gaara paused for a few seconds, visibly arranging his thoughts. "I have learned a lot about you in the past month. The nurse that brought me my food and took care of me was more than willing to tell me about you, and I wish to be more like you. In fact, I have decided that I want to become the Kazekage of my village."

Naruto grinned widely and put his hands behind his head, squinting his eyes. "That is a great goal. Maybe the next time we see each other, we will each be the leader of our villages?"

"We will see," Gaara replied with a small smile and stuck out his hand. Naruto took it without hesitating and shook it. Naruto turned his wheelchair to watch Gaara, his team and their escorts enter the elevator. Naruto gave a short wave, to which Gaara replied with a shallow bow.

Once the elevator doors closed, Naruto let the nurse return him to his room. To his surprise, Sakura was there, sitting in a chair, talking with Tenten and Hinata. Neji had also arrived, leaning in the back left corner of the room, in a pastel green hospital gown like everyone else.

"Morning Sakura-chan. Morning Neji-kun."

"Good morning Naruto," they both replied simultaneously.

"Whatcha doing here?"

"I came to see how you were doing." Sakura bit her lip as she examined his bandages form from where she sat.

"I am doing okay. I am really better than I look. The doctors are just being overly cautious."

"I see." Sakura hesitated several seconds before she asked her next question. "Um… if you don't mind, could I speak to you privately?"

Glancing to where Hinata and Tenten were sitting, he quirked an eyebrow at them. Without saying anything, Tenten nodded, and the three left the room, closing the door on the way out.

"Thank you," Sakura exhaled.

"No problem. Now what did you want."

"I just wanted to thank you for bringing Sasuke back."

"Stop right there, Sakura-chan. I already said you didn't need to thank me. You are a friend, and I would do the same for anyone else. Well, maybe not anyone per se, but you get the idea."

"I know, and I wanted to thank you anyways. You didn't have to try so hard to bring him back, yet you did. I never wanted this to happen to you, to any of you. I just wanted Sasuke-kun to come home."

"And he is. He is a little messed up in the head right now and he is going to need you to help him get better. I wouldn't be who I am today were it not for Tenten and Hinata. I am a better person because of them, and you are going to have to do the same for Sasuke. He is going to need someone to be by his side as he gets through this, and that someone is you."

"You think so?"

"You are a good person Sakura-chan. Sasuke does not know what he has in you. Just be there for him. He won't talk to me, but he might to you, eventually."

"I am not so sure about that. You are the closest thing he has to a friend. Why would he choose to confide in me of all people?"

"It is a guy thing. There are things that I would never be able to tell Iruka-sensei or Shikamaru or Choji that I can tell Tenten-chan or Hinata-chan. Be patient and don't push him, and he will open up to you eventually."

Sakura nodded, chewing her lower lip. "Have you seen him yet? The nurses won't let me in to see him."

"Yeah, the Hokage wanted me to try to talk some sense into him, which was where I just came from."

"How is he doing?"

"Well, like I said, he has had his noggin messed with, and he is trying to deal with that right now. Most of his injuries are not too bad though. Most of the damage was mental."

"Do you know when they will let him have visitors?"

"No. Probably not until the Hokage decides to let him out of the secure ward, at least. Maybe you could ask her to let you see him. Might do him some good to see a friendly face or two."

"I will do that then. Thank you for listening to me."

"I told you already Sakura-chan, I don't mind. I am always happy to help a friend out."

"I know you are. You are a really good guy, Naruto-kun." Bending over to plant a light kiss on his cheek, Sakura walked out of the room.

OoOoO

Ibiki watched the monitor dispassionately as several nurses were bent over the form of a young woman, frantically trying to save her life. He didn't bother to look up when the door to the darkened room opened and closed behind him.

"Any change?"

"I am afraid not Hokage-sama. Whatever Orochimaru did, it was brilliant. I will give the man one thing, he knew how to keep secrets."

"You are sure it isn't the seal."

"I am positive. The Cursed Seal has been warded away. I had Jiraiya perform the sealing himself."

"And you have inspected the prisoner for additional seals."

"Thoroughly. Whatever is preventing them from speaking, it is top rate. My money is on some sort of neural programming."

"Can you break it?"

"I don't know. Whenever I mention something related to Orochimaru, Sound, their mission to retrieve Sasuke, or the Uchiha himself, even in passing, this is what you get." On the other side of the monitor, Tayuya was lying prostrate on a gurney, straining against the restraints. Even with straps across her forehead, shoulders, chest, hips, and calves, she was barely held in place. The only parts of her actually touching the gurney were her head and heels, her hips thrust upwards in a quivering arch. Her one remaining eye was opened as wide as it could go, white showing all around her iris and her mouth was opened in a silent scream. A slit had been made in her throat and a straw inserted so she could breathe, a plastic oxygen mask attached to that.

Neither onlooker blinked when one of the nurses wound back and gave Tayuya a shot of epinephrine straight to the heart. Ibiki and Tsunade remained silent and watched as Tayuya was eventually brought back from the brink of death and sedated. "Well… that was certainly exciting."

"Ha," Ibiki replied dryly.

"How do you plan on going on from here?"

"At the moment, I am not sure. Orochimaru's programming is incredible. Before I can get anything of use out of her or the other one, I have to break the programming, or bypass it."

"I assume that you have already tried genjutsu and hypnosis."

"I have. With about equally effective results."

"And sedation has failed?"

"Yes. I have used every single cocktail there is out there, and made one or two new ones, but no matter what her state of mind, as soon as I try to get something out of her, this happens."

"What about the Yamanakas?"

"As a last resort only. Given who we are dealing with, I can only guess what sort of traps Orochimaru has designed for prevent anyone from mindwalking the subject. It is possible that there is nothing in there preventing a mindwalk, but I wouldn't bet on it. Worst case, someone goes in there and her brains scramble. If she does get mindwalked, it has to be a full circle."

"What about the other one?"

"Exactly the same. I brush anything remotely interesting and he just shuts down."

"I see. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Not at the moment. I still have to figure out exactly what we are dealing with."

"Hm. Well please notify me as soon as you have something."

"I will ma'am."

OoOoO

The first concrete thought that Naruto mustered was that if that was a summons from Tsunade at the door, Orochimaru had better be breaking the gates down, or someone was going to get a piece of his mind. He was sitting on the side of the bed, in the process of gingerly pulling on a pair of sleeper pants because of his shoulder when he heard the door slam open. Sleep instantly forgotten in light of an intruder, Naruto leapt to his feet, baring the gladius-form of Kitsune. Tenten had likewise armed herself with her two largest pistols, almost ridiculously oversized in her delicate hands, thumbs on the hammers. Jerking his head to the open doorway, he waited for Tenten to signal her readiness before rolling through the door, staying low as Tenten covered him from farther back in the room. He did not hear the crack of her pistols, and saw why a split-second later.

A somewhat surprised Ino stood at the head of a gaggle of their former classmates and friends. Everyone froze for a moment to take in the sight of a half-dressed Naruto and nearly-naked Tenten (who was clad only in her bra and panties) armed and ready to attack. Tenten stepped to the side and out of sight after a second, leaving Naruto standing in the hallway with one leg in a pair of thin pajama bottoms and boxers. Naruto didn't say anything, just held a finger up and trudged back to the bedroom, slamming the door closed behind him.

The pair emerged a few minutes later, properly attired. Ino and company, which included Shikamaru, Choji, Shino and Sakura, had made themselves comfortable on what little furniture there was, Ino perched on the edge of the bar.

"So may I ask what was so important that it required you to break down my door Ino-san?" Tenten asked tartly.

Ino just giggled, responding with a query of her own. "Did we interrupt something important?"

"Ino-san, it is ten a.m. on a day off after a mission so yes, we were sleeping in. Now, what do you want?"

Ino said nothing, smiling widely and picked a gift-wrapped box off the top of a small pile on the bar. It was big, but not huge, maybe about half the size of a breadbox. When Naruto reached out to take the gift, Ino snatched it back with a scowl. "Hey, was I offering this to you? This is Tenten's present."

Naruto scowled back as Tenten took the proffered present. Carefully peeling the paper away, she blinked in surprise at what was inside.

"Silverware? Is this supposed to be a housewarming party?"

"Ino-chan said that you had moved into your own place last week, so she dragged us all out shopping." That was Choji.

"Aren't the homeowners supposed to organize the party?" Naruto asked.

"This is Ino, are you really surprised?"

"Point taken Shikamaru."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Ino asked.

"Well, you can be aggressively assertive at times."

"And how is that a bad thing Shino?"

"It can be when it gets out of control. Why do you think Shikamaru brought me along?"

Ino folded her arms under her breasts and pouted. "You're mean Forehead."

"Doesn't change the truth."

"Instead of bickering among ourselves, why don't we continue with opening the presents? I am sure that Tenten-san and Naruto-san have other things they would like to do today."

The pout vanished from Ino's face in the blink of an eye, replaced with a smirk. "Things best done in privacy, I'd be willing to bet."

Tenten flushed, but Naruto was unfazed. "Perhaps, perhaps not. That would be for us to know and you never to find out."

"I wouldn't bet on that," Ino replied with an impressive leer.

"Ino-pig," Sakura said in a warning tone, and handed Tenten the next present. "I thought you lived with Hinata-chan, Naruto. What are you doing here so early in the morning?"

"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it early, but I'm a shadow clone. The real me is with Hinata-chan."

"Ah. Makes sense I suppose."

"As good as the real thing as long as things don't get too rough."

Naruto sighed. "You are going to be making innuendo the entire time you are here, aren't you Ino?"

"Are you kidding, one of us women has to do the dirty work, and if Forehead won't do it, then it falls to me to make fun of you two."

Tenten gave Ino a dry look to which Ino replied with a grin. Tenten had finished unwrapping the second present, which turned out to be a small counter-top grill from Choji. Sakura had gotten them a set of thick ceramic plates and bowls, flowers and ivy embossed around the edges as well as some wine charms. A thick cookbook entitled '1001 Meals Under 10 Minutes' was from Shikamaru. The largest present was from Shino and turned out to be a brand new microwave oven that had been liberally decorated with cutesy little ladybug stickers. "That would be my sister," Shino said quietly. It was difficult to tell from behind his shades and high collar, but Naruto could detect a faint trace of embarrassment in his tone.

"You have a sister?" Ino asked in surprise.

"She is seven years old. She is at an age where ladybugs and the like fascinate her."

Tenten smiled. "It is just fine the way it is Shino-kun."

OoOoO

It was early evening before Ino and company departed, leaving Naruto lying on the couch with an arm over his eyes. Tenten was in the kitchenette cleaning up from the remains of dinner, take out from a nearby restaurant that Choji had gotten. Once all the boxes had been thrown away and the counters wiped down, Tenten went into the living area and flopped down on top of Naruto.

"Oof," Naruto grunted. "Feeling better?" he continued after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah, I guess. It was nice."

"Heh, I know what you mean. Ino can be abrasive and bossy sometimes, but she does know how to make people feel better."

"She does at that. Been a while since any of us have had a real free day."

"God yes," Naruto agreed. "If it isn't one thing it's another. First it was the Chunin Exams, then it was the invasion, then I had to go look for Tsunade, then Jiraiya made the seal for her to heal the Hokage in, then Sasuke ran off and we had to go get him. Last month or two have been crazy as hell. Doesn't leave much time for ourselves."

"Maybe we could request some vacation time. Get out of Konoha for a while."

Naruto laughed. "I wish. No way Tsunade would agree to that."

"Probably," Tenten reluctantly agreed.

The pair lay in silence for several minutes until Naruto abruptly sat up, almost throwing Tenten off the couch. "Okay, we're going out."

"Out?"

"Yeah, out."

"Out where?"

"I dunno, just out." Naruto tossed Tenten her sandals and she put them on. Locking the door behind them, Tenten followed Naruto down when he hopped over the railing to the ground from the second floor where her apartment was. Twining his fingers with Tenten's, the pair walked shoulder to shoulder. Naruto didn't say anything as they meandered.

"So where are we going?" Tenten finally asked.

"Nowhere in particular. Just out for a stroll. How often have we been able to do this? Just take a walk, nowhere to go, no one to see."

"Not often," Tenten admitted.

"But isn't it nice? Just to take some time for ourselves."

'Yeah, it is," Tenten said with a smile. Leaning into Naruto, she rested her head on the side of his shoulder and hugging his arm with the hand that Naruto wasn't holding. They passed an ice cream stand and Naruto bought two cones, despite the chill in the air. Naruto led them over to a nearby bench placed for couples such as then to sit and enjoy their ice cream.

"Mm, this is good," Tenten said after a few licks. "What is this place called?"

"Um, Coldrock," he replied, leaning forward to look at the sign. The next few minutes were spent in silence as they ate their ice cream. When the last bit of waffle cone was eaten, the pair got up and continued walking. "I'm sorry that we don't have time for this much anymore. I promised I would take you on a date, God when was it? Must have been July, just after the Prelims in the Chunin Exam, and we never did. Last time we went was before the mission to Grass, at least. I like being a ninja most of the time, but the job doesn't leave much time for anything outside of work."

"It is okay. Like you said, things have been pretty hectic the last couple of months. I know that as soon as things slow down to where we can get a breath in, you will take me out."

"I mean, I don't ever remember it being like this when we were still in the Academy. It is just crazy."

"It has to slow down eventually. Can't be fighting off invasions or going after idiot former classmates forever." She and Naruto had been walking along, one of Naruto's arms pulled over Tenten's shoulders, so it was easy enough for Naruto to pull her off balance quickly enough that she barely had the chance to blink and wonder what Naruto was doing when she felt rough brick and Naruto's lips closing over hers a breath later. Tenten smiled inwardly as the pair shared a long kiss. She felt her blush rise as Naruto kept kissing her.

"You've gotten better," Tenten said lowly a few minutes later.

"Well, I have had a lot of practice. And you know what they say about practice and perfection."

"Hah."

"Do you disagree?"  
"Not one bit."

"Good to see that we are in agreement then."

"Hm, but there is always room for improvement."

"True, how about you show me what I have been doing wrong then?"

"I think that I can do that. How 'bout we go back to my place. This could take some time."

Naruto grinned. "Lead on Tenten-sensei."

OoOoO

Kabuto knocked on the door to Orochimaru's innermost sanctum and entered a beat after his master gave him permission. "Ah, Kabuto-kun, has my dear Sasuke-kun arrived yet?" Orochimaru was sitting behind a desk piled with papers, leaning back with his fingers steepled before him.

"Forgive me Orochimaru-sama, but I fear not.

"I see. Please tell me that they are all dead, or at least had the sense to not return here after failing."

"According to my informant, Jirobo, Sakon, Ukon and Kimimaro were all killed. Kidomaru and Tayuya were both captured alive." Orochimaru said nothing for several seconds, instead walking over to a long, narrow table set with various liquid refreshments. Orochimaru gripped the edge of the table tightly, trembling with barely repressed rage.

"Alive, you say? Whoever tries to interrogate them will certainly be in for a surprise." Orochimaru abruptly whirled on Kabuto. "Who led the rescue team?"

"A nobody from the Nara clan, but do not believe he was responsible for their success. If you will read me report here, you will see that Hyuuga Naruto was included on the mission. The Kyuubi's host is the only one with enough power present to subdue Sasuke-sama, I believe."

"Well, that boy certainly has begun to make a name for himself, Shinigami no Naruto."

"What should we do about Sasuke-sama, Orochimaru-sama?"

"For now? Nothing. Order your informants to keep a close eye on Sasuke-kun. I may have missed my chance to possess him for now, but there will be other opportunities."

"And Naruto?"

"The same. I want him under twenty-four hour surveillance, and his women too. I want to keep a close eye on this boy. He has almost as much potential as the Uchiha, it would seem. Born into an unknown name and raised by an unremarkable person, he has risen far in a short amount of time. But he will be taught his lesson, sooner or later."

"What lesson would that be, Orochimaru-sama?"

"Why, I would think it be obvious: what it means to be called Shinigami."

**End Part One**

_**To be continued in**_

**Shinigami no Naruto: Jinchuuriki Tales**


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